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DVD Semi-Soet
 Rating: 7.1 Genres: Romance Director: Joshua Rous Writers: Anel Alexander, James Alexander Stars: Anel Alexander, Nico Panagiotopoulos, Sandra Vaughn |
| Storyline Workaholic Jaci van Jaarsveld (Anel Alexander) will go to any lengths to protect the boutique advertising agency she works for from being bought and dismantled by a ruthless businessman known as The Jackal… See full synopsis » |
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| Plot Keywords: afrikaans | |
| Details: Country: South Africa Release Date: 17 February 2012 (South Africa) |
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| Box Office Budget: ZAR 5,000,000 (estimated) |
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DVD Semi-Soet
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4 comments
I thought it was just great….lots of fun, great wit, stunning scenery and a clear sign to me that the SA movie industry is moving forward at pace…congratulations!! it's a must see, don't forget the biltong, popcorn and Koeksisters !! Anel Alexander and Nico Panagio were just the biz, and for someone who can't speak Afrikaans – thanks for the sub-titles ; )
I thoroughly enjoyed the humour and capers, and the Vrede en Lust wine farm setting did more than add an important dimension to the movie, it was a great advertisement for the beauty of SA…reminds me that it's time for another tour of the wine lands !!
Finally, and perhaps most important, its' becoming clear that South Africans are more willing than ever to poke fun at themselves, a sure sign of maturity….long may that continue !
Finally an Afrikaans movie that does the very thing I've wanted other films to do for so long, to be more precise, past Afrikaans films had the knack for having characters with less personality than paper plates and a dialog that is so outdated their characters talk in ways that Afrikaans people haven't talked in years and they use words that are probably not even in the dictionary anymore, basically what I've been saying what Afrikaans film makers should do is develop characters and give them a personality and dialog that fit in with how people are today, of course I always get shot down by people telling me "you have to cater for older audiences as well." If that's the attitude of every film maker then he or she should stop before they start because film making can be an ungrateful business if it wants to be, its better to be ahead of the pack then to be treading in their footsteps.
SEMI SOET does everything perfectly in terms of character development and dialog it is absolutely flawless in that aspect, each of the characters are so well developed you can immediately tell who's likable and who is not, the acting is probably best I've ever seen in an Afrikaans movie and even though the plot bares a little resemblance toward THE PROPOSAL and COUPLES RETREAT, a lot of the jokes and situations are very inventive and it has a certain charm to it that the other two films don't completely have.
All in all, its a must see for anyone whose waited to see a good and very entertaining Afrikaans movie.
Plus, if you're an aspiring Afrikaans film maker that wants to get into the business, watch 7DE LAAN on how not to develop a good story, I know its South Africa's favorite soap opera but it should actually be called a plastic cheese opera to emphasize the plastic acting and the cheesy dialog, its also a good example of what film makers are doing wrong in the Afrikaans market.
Sometimes when I travel to South Africa for business, I pick the worst movies to see while I'm there. With Semi-Soet, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, you've probably seen much of it before and American audiences of Sandra Bullock's "the Proposal" will be picking apart the similarities, but all in all in had its own brand of charm that was quite refreshing.
What was especially fun about the lead characters is that while they both had an agenda, neither was so self-absorbed that you felt a distaste for them along the way. Too often movies try to make characters interesting by making them selfish so that by the end, you really don't care what happens next. In Semi-Soet, I was glad to keep watching them and had no problem keeping up.
Very clever of the movie makers to set part of the movie in South Africa's wine country, a great advert for tourists but it was nothing that was distracting in any way. The beautiful scenery was just what was needed to give the audience a breath of fresh air. All in all, not a bad afternoon at the cinema and a something I hope to see more of from SA filmmakers.
By far the best Afrikaans movie I have ever watched!
Semi Soet perfectly balances the comedy we've come to expect from the actors playing in the movie, with the seriousness the storyline requires for such a production. Although it may be a bit on the slapstick side, the well written script in my opinion more than makes up for this, and the cast & crew pulled the job off perfectly.
Beautiful scenery of the wine-lands, as well as references to common practices found in such places just adds to the realism of the movie- although in a couple of scenes I'd say it would have been better to have left the slang used for punchlines in English- rather than translate the word(s) to Afrikaans and causing them to lose their effectiveness.
Still, I cannot help but recommend this movie to everybody who prefers a good movie for (almost) the whole family.