BELGICA is Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll - Sundance Review

Sex, Drugs and Rock n’Roll! That seems to be the overarching theme of the movie Belgica by Felix van Groeningen. The movie is about a good guy named Jo who manages a bar, and his brother Frank, who helps him make it the hottest place in all of…Belgium? I think? It’s a European place, anyway. As Belgica (that’s the bar’s name) gets more popular, the brothers have to start dealing with the ups and downs of success.

This movie was a fun foreign film that wasn’t as heavy as some of the other films at Sundance this year. It had some solid acting with fun character roles. All the characters seemed like family, and you cared when they started making mistakes. However, the film moves very quickly into those mistakes. And despite rushing much of the plot along, the movie still managed to drag in parts. One moment, the bar is doing great and the next it's the best place in town. Then it REALLY becomes the best place in town. And suddenly Frank is having sex with some lady we don’t really know — even though his wife is smoking hot! Frank’s desire to cheat and do drugs and break all the rules seems to come almost out of nowhere. He's a caring brother and husband at the beginning, but as soon as he gets a snort of coke and success, he kinda becomes a douche. Jo, on the other hand, stays pretty grounded through his story. He starts as a character you almost feel bad for. He has one eye, he isn’t good with ladies, and his bar is trashed, but by the end he goes through some growth. He learns how to take care of things himself and even stands up to his brother when Frank goes too far.

The best part of this movie, however, is the music. There are tons of bands that play in the bar, and the songs set the tone for each scene. Each song is performed by a different awesome European punk band that I couldn’t tell you the name of off the top of my head, but it still gave me the feel of being at a party. And if I liked going to parties, it would be even better.

Overall, seeing the movie felt like going to a bar in real life. Everything happens so fast, yet you still feel like you were waiting for forever, and the only thing you can remember was the music was kinda good and you probably shouldn't have snorted so much coke. But hey, great music, guys, and if anyone asks, you had a great night.