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Tragicomedy
by director and producer Jos Stelling on the individualism of the nineties
with the same nonsense and absurd humor of his previous films such as
The Ilusionist and The Pointsman, winners of two Mostras.
The
story, based on the novel Broederweelde, by Jean-Paul Franssen,
takes place in the space of 24 hours in one same site, the Centraal Café
on a station square, and no more than just a place to wait for the next
train. To some people, however, the café is a refuge for a life of illusion
and heartache.
These
are the persons that make up the chorus of lonely café customers seeking
a little human warmth and solidarity in each other. All of them have a
story of their own, but when one of them, Gerard, announces that he will
move to Italy, things on the site take a new turn.
He
wants to bid farewell to his dearest friends, to his girlfriend Paula,
and to the waiter Joop and his daughter. He also wants to find a brother
whom he has not seen for 20 years. To everyone's surprise, the brother
is a famous crooner, who makes Gerard's farewell unforgettable in Centraal
Café. A day that is to come to an unexpected end.
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