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TAILGATE
Director: Lodewijk Crijns Cast: Jeroen Spitzenberger, Anniek Pfeifer, Willem de Wolf, Roosmarijn van der Hoek, Liz Vergeer, Truus te Selle, Hubert Fermin, Tim Linde MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:26 Release Date: 7/30/21 (limited; virtual; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 29, 2021 There isn't much to the story of Tailgate—just a family on a road trip, interrupted by a courtesy-obsessed exterminator who decides to torment them. With writer/director Lodewijk Crijns' unceasing momentum and twisted sense of humor, though, that story turns out to be enough. The tormenter is named Ed (Willem de Wolf), whom we first see hunting a cyclist who must have done something on the road to offend the guy. The opportunity to apologize has passed in Ed's mind, though, and after chasing and plowing into and finding the bike rider, Ed shoves a chemical sprayer into the man's mouth. Things obviously won't turn out well for Hans (Jeroen Spitzenberger) and his family—wife Diana (Anniek Pheifer) and two daughters (played by Roosmarijn van der Hoek and Liz Vergeer)—who are traveling to his elderly parents' house. Hans drives fast and isn't paying much attention, so when a familiar white van—the same one from which Ed obtained his deadly sprayer—appears ahead of the family car, we know Hans is in for a lot of trouble when he starts riding the van's bumper. The rest of this plot should be—and, admittedly, is—easy to predict, but the crux isn't whether or not we know what's going to happen. It's how well Crijns maintains the tension, stages the assorted chases and attacks and sequences of suspense, and provides some feeling of helplessness to everything that unfolds. In that regard, the filmmaker succeeds. That's particularly true during one scene, when Hans finally confronts the pursuing Ed, that slowly ratchets the tension (Wolf's eerily calm performance does a lot work here, too, although Spitzenberger's resolute stubbornness serves as a fine counterpoint). It's unleashed in an extended payoff of running, fighting, broken glass, choking chemicals, and reckless driving through a crowded suburb (One nicely realistic touch is that the family car looks as if it has gone through a desperate chase). After that, Crijns plays with some dramatic irony, as Hans becomes increasingly paranoid, although we know exactly where Ed is and, more or less, what he's planning for the rude motorist. Matters become almost surreal in a subsequent chase, and whether or not Ed succeeds in his actual plan almost seems irrelevant, considering the physical and psychological mess Hans becomes. Tailgate puts him—and, at times, us—through the wringer. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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