| We | |||||||
| Native Name: |
| ||||||
| Director: | Rene Eller | ||||||
| Cinematography: | Maxime Desmet | ||||||
| Editing: | Wouter van Luijn | ||||||
| Music: | Colin Stetson | ||||||
| Runtime: | 90 minutes | ||||||
We (Dutch; Flemish: '''Wij''') is a 2018 Belgian–Dutch drama film written, directed and co-produced by Rene Eller. The movie was released on January 27, 2018, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
A group of eight youthful friends (four male and four female) decide to find new ways to entertain themselves during the summertime while not in school. They allow their sexual curiosity to run freely and engage in several explicit sexual games involving explicit sex with each other and in groups. As the group experiments with their newly discovered freedom and in the absence of parental control or norms, some of their sexually oriented exploits become both irresponsible and dangerous to the people they encounter. Four of the youths recount what happened during their trial after they have been apprehended for the death of a innocent person who was unknowingly the victim of one of their sexual pranks.
Patricia Smagge from the "Cinemagazine" wrote: "This film can be seen as a fascinating but jet-black portrait of a generation, or as a disturbing account in which it would have been better to devote more attention to the elaboration of the story and the characters than to bringing moral decay into the picture as explicitly as possible. You will have an opinion about 'We' anyway because it is a film that leaves its mark.[1] David Pountain writing for FilmDoo stated: "Rene Eller’s bold and sinister portrayal of hedonistic youth is an alarming statement of collective identity, putting a generation’s worst impulses on display while suggesting that the larger ‘we’ of modern society is no less inclined to destruction and debauchery."[2] Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club decried its nihilistic tone, conceding that "It’s a fairly well-directed and well-acted endeavor, which only adds to the disgust at what a waste it was having talented folks spend so much time on what’s essentially I Dare You to Care About This: The Movie", with pointless violence and cruelty, summing it up as "awful".[3]
We won the Golden Calf (award) of "Best Editing" (for Wouter van Luijn) at the 2018 Nederlands Film Festival.,[4] the "Best Director" (for Rene Eller) at the 2018 Raindance Film Festival[5] and the "RIFF Jury Award" of "Best Film" at the Rome Independent Film Festival.[6]
We was nominated for the "German Independence Award" of "Best Film" at the Oldenburg International Film Festival, the "KNF Award" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the "Best European First Film" at the Zlín Film Festival.