The Columnist (Fantasia Fest)
Broad satire where you try and make multiple points, from multiple perspectives, at once seems like a Herculean task. At its best, you get “Bulworth”; at its worst, you get this year’s “The Hunt.” “The Columnist,” from the Netherlands, is right in between when it comes to its approach towards online bullying, and how it can push the bullied too far. It’s definitely worth a look.
Femke Boot (Katja Herbers, in a terrific performance) is a columnist for an online magazine, and she’s trying to work on a book. We actually first meet her, however, when she is discussing the subject of online harassment on a news program with a fellow writer (Bram van der Kelen), who is trying to promote his new book. Needless to say, he has a very different reaction to online interactions than Femke does, and it’s for the reasons you expect. For Femke, it’s also causing writer’s block, as she’s struggling with ideas for her book; the comments get too painful to take. One day, she sees an opportunity to confront one of her online attackers. She’s empowered by the experience, and the writing is coming a bit easier afterwards.
As you can imagine by the poster, Femke’s anxieties over the trolls commenting shit online about her leads to a violent place. Once it heads to that place, the film, and the script by Daan Windhorst, is a bit of a mixed bag tonally, wanting to be “Dexter” but also trying to avoid getting too consumed with the violence. Herbers’s performance goes a long way towards selling this- her anger is palpable, and we find ourselves questioning the morality of her actions, which is appropriate. There’s also an interesting subplot involving Femke’s daughter, Anna (Claire Porro) having a hard time dealing with the head of her school on freedom of speech issues and the school paper. We’re meant to see Femke’s reaction to that and question her reaction to her own trolls, but the punches the film is hoping to land don’t really do so. But director Ivo van Aart knows how to sell the images we’re seeing, and it all leads to a final moment that is instantly memorable. Unfortunately, the way it gets there leaves much to be desired.
