Gerard goes to his regular pub to bid the other patrons farewell. Gerard goes completely unnoticed by the rest of the company, and one sad event follows the next. The emotional low is his rejection by the beautiful Paula, who chooses a German gangster. The sad man only gets attention when he brags about his brother Mario Russo, a popular singer, with whom he is at odds however. This becomes apparent when Mario Russo unexpectedly drops by in the pub. The title of the film provided a funny misunderstanding that would be right at home in a Jos Stelling film. When the film was sent to a festival, the reels stayed behind at an airport, because customs mistook the title for transportation instructions: “do not send by train or by plane”. Better just leave it then…
About the film
Details
- Running time
- 1 hr. 45 min.
- Country, year
- Netherlands, 1999
- Genre
- Drama
- Language
- Dutch
- Subtitles
- Lithuanian, English
- Age rating
- N/A
Credits
- Director
- Jos Stelling
- Screenplay
- Hans Heese, Jos Stelling
- Cinematography
- Goert Giltay
- Music
- Nicola Piovani
- Cast
- Dirk van Dijck, Ellen ten Damme, Henri Garcin, Gene Bervoets
- More information
- www.imdb.com
Festivals and awards
- Golden Gryphon Award
- Nomination for Kieślowski Award
- Nomination for Best Screenplay & Best Actor
- Silver Cup..
Director
Jos Stelling
Director and screenwriter Jos Stelling was born in 1945 in the Netherlands. He didn’t study at any film school and made his debut as a film director in 1974 with Mariken van Nieumegen. The film was selected for the official Cannes competition in 1975. In 1981 he founded the Dutch Film Days, a festival for Dutch directors to give them the possibility to show their films. He continued to serve as chairman and director until the 1991 edition. Jos Stelling is founder and owner of two arthouse cinemas in Utrecht (since 1978 & since 2004).
