ZUS AND ZOO
Directed by: Paula van der Oest.
Produced by: Jacqueline de Goeij.
Written by: van der Oest.
Director of Photography: Bert Pot.
Edited by: Sander Vos.
Music by: Fong Merkies.
Released by: Wellspring.
Country of Origin: The Netherlands. 100 min. Not Rated.
With: Sonja Hendrickx, Anneke Blok, Sylvia Poorta & Jacob Derwing.
DVD Features: Scene Selection. English subtitles. Trailer.

Three privileged and bourgeois sisters long for the halcyon days spent at their family’s Portuguese hotel. All three want to prevent their gay brother Nino from marrying a woman and thus inheriting the hotel according to the terms of their father’s will. Nino would be able to do as he pleased with the property, including possibly selling it. Meanwhile, all four siblings are in a state of denial--the eldest and bleeding-heart Michelle (Poorta), regarding her neediness; middle sister and peacemaker Sonya (Hendrickx), her marriage; dismissive performance artist Wanda (Blok), her talent; and Nino (Derwig), his relationship with TV cooking celebrity Felix Delicious. As the marriage approaches, the film turns into a screwball romantic comedy, complete with fireworks. Writer/director van der Oest takes risks in creating characters that are not altogether likable. Even their mother describes the sisters as selfish bitches. Whenever they find themselves together, the three revert to adolescent behavior, humorously wallowing in their suffering. Fortunately, the actresses physicalize their love for one another that’s lacking in the script. The film remains light and involving thanks to the actors, even when betrayals and cruel incriminations are blithely glossed over and relationships suddenly, inexplicably, change. With actors playing the farce seriously, Zus and Zo (roughly translated from Dutch as Now and Then or This or That) will appeal to those who liked the likewise droll Muriel’s Wedding.
KT
July 14, 2003