Synopsis
Columnist and author Femke is flooded with anonymous nasty messages and death threats on social media. One day she is completely done and decides to take revenge.
2020 ‘De Kuthoer’ Directed by Ivo van Aart
Columnist and author Femke is flooded with anonymous nasty messages and death threats on social media. One day she is completely done and decides to take revenge.
CIFF 2020: film #1
“you know what? it isn’t hard to be kind”
oh this was FUN and probably the best portrayal of social media paranoia (and anger) that i’ve seen. i feel like i say this a lot now but i’m gonna say it again, this would have been a blast with a festival audience
“i really don’t care about anything at all”
i had so much fun while watching this. it’s depiction of social media’s toxicity is definitely one of my favourites (along with black mirror’s nosedive). it may not be entirely logical but at least it triumphs in giving tremendous amounts of entertainment that kept me engaged throughout.
Fantasia 2020: Film #1
Naturally, I started my Fantasia experience with this one. Online trolls? BOY, DO I KNOW ABOUT THOSE. While it definitely walks the line between thriller and comedy in the beginning, things get darker as the film goes on and the sharp commentary on internet culture and hypocrisy becomes even more obvious.
Ever thought about hitting a Twitter troll in the head with a frying pan and then cutting one of his typing fingers off? Well, The Columnist executes just that, letting the audience live that fantasy through Femke Boot (Katja Herbers), an author, columnist, and single mother who’s been getting hate messages and death threats over a column she wrote. In director Ivo van Aart’s third feature written by Daan Windhorst characters ask questions like, “Why can’t we just have different opinions and be nice about it?” and say that words are just words, the internet isn’t real, and it’s as simple as, her boyfriend (Bram van der Kelen) says, never reading the comments. But like Femke, most of us can’t…
It's just the Internet, it's not real
This has it's finger on the pulse regarding freedom of speech and social media. We're all free to say what we want online but at what cost? Violent words lead to violent actions in this movie and it's a fun ride. Katja Herbers has a great presence and you would not want to mess with her.
FrightFest Day #2 gets off to a decent start with an unusual Dutch take on cyber bullying wrapped up in a darkly comic revenger. I thought it might be painfully NOW reading the synopsis, but it's always slightly distanced from reality and doesn't ram its messaging down your throat or fall too much on the side of its protagonist. It doesn't miss a beat in the irony stakes; outspoken feminist column writer Femke Boot (pronounced 'boat', meaning boat) gunning down one of many haters as her daughter reads out an article she wrote in defence of free speech. As The Middle Finger Murderer, Femke is seen to be as much of a hypocrite as a symbol of female empowerment and…
Katja Gerber's as Femke is brilliant. You see the tension building up, furiously picking at her thumb. On the flip side what a cathartic cleanse, how productive she becomes after clearing out her haters. I felt good for her.....until she couldn't keep away from Twatter and Farcebook.
The middle finger murders......brilliant.
If I had a Bloody Mary on me right now I'd be raising it to Femke.
Right I'm away to check out what twitter's got to say about it.
Oh and shit sounds like cock in Dutch.... snigger
Sympathy For Mrs. Girlboss
Cant wait for the inevitable "wish I could do this to my trolls 💅" reviews for this.
Fantasia Festival 2020: Film 12
I bet the filmmakers are furious the title Troll Hunter was taken.
Film Maudit 2021: film #1
It's hard not to compare this to a certain other 2020 female revenge film, having watched the two in such close proximity! That being said, this certainly stands on its own and tackles the issue of internet trolling in a fresh way. Deeply satisfying with plenty of dark comedy fun.
From feminist to misandry. This black comedy satirically translate the hate speech into hate practice which is relevantly happening nowadays with more revenge but less viewpoint.
- Film Maudit 2.0 by Highways
The Columnist tackles social media culture to the extremes with a comedic revenge story rooted against these so-called trolls that do nothing but send hate comments and death threats in the form of "freedom of expression."
the film paints a message on freedom of expression, being allowed to say whatever you want to say. the rise of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter though tend to bring about hate and "cancel culture" if someone posts something that you don't agree with. for the film, it's Femke Boot's column and the topics that she writes about. she starts to receive hateful comments and even death threats.
this is so common nowadays with posts or even shares being used against you.…
If you have ever dealt with internet trolls, THE COLUMNIST is for you. While I do like its approach to the revenge film, I think what makes it so good is that it has something to say about why trolls suck and what they can do if they go too far. Our lead character of Femke Boot is a woman that is haunted by trolls and how they get into her head. Once they go to far, then she becomes that mad woman that you don't want to mess with.
While movies like Promising Young Woman and Revenge deal with women being victims of rape culture, The Columnist takes similar themes but shows how scary being a victim of internet…
I’d never see hate comments on social media the same way I did before watching this....
Film Maudit 2.0
An interesting pairing with Woman of the Photographs, another Film Maudit 2.0 selection, but where the online world manifests as a festering wound harming the self in the former, in Ivo van Aart's The Columnist, the harmed woman decides to take revenge. If you have the time to check out Film Maudit online, both those films are solid choices. And it's free. Also check out Spoor or Woman at War, two other similarly themed films.
Sekilas ngingetin ama Promising Young Woman. Mungkin karena muka mbaknya mirip Carey Mulligan.
I saw The Columnist getting some good reviews last year, and had been intrigued by its premise and poster art. Although it was never a top priority for me in terms of 2020 releases, I found out that Film Maudit 2.0 was showing it at their free virtual festival this week and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see it. Unfortunately, I found it to be pretty underwhelming. Its handling of its subject matter reminded me a lot of The Hunt (2020) in that it's hard to gauge just what the filmmaker wants you to take from this - except, unlike The Hunt, it fails to be at all entertaining as a horror/thriller film, with its mostly…
Life post-the advent of social media and the involvement of politics in it proves to be quite the experience. You'd enter what is essentially a hellhole upon logging in. Whether it's on Facebook or Twitter, there's always a war pitting critics against "trolls", and it's unending. In THE COLUMNIST, we circle back to pressing topics that two 'Black Mirror' episodes, namely 'Nosedive' and 'Hated in the Nation' had tackled. That is only its hook though, for the well-established conceit lies in the female perspective taking it to a complex, fascinating narrative route, which also garners universality fending off the specificity of cultural context ––– best depicted in a character opposing the ideals our lead later gets clawed by, and caves…
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