For a few marbles more (Voor Een Paar Knikkers Meer)

A wonderfully bright film by Dutch film maker Jelmar Hufen.  Sometimes, Dutch movies have this darkness about them similar to the bleakness of Swedish movies and this one is sure different.

Four playmates, three young boys and one girl are kicked out of the neighborhood playground where they have fun playing with marbles by two adult bullies.  By the way, the marbles in question are not the tiny American marbles.  They are bigger and of different sizes.

The children approach their parents, whose faces are never shown, to ask for help.  Characteristically, the parents are too busy working or drinking or having marital problems and ignore the kids.

The kids turn to an older neighborhood kid, who is a toughie with an appalling reputation, for help.  Needless to say, the movie has a happy and surprising ending. 

The story line is a parody of the Italian Spaghetti westerns of the 1960’s.  Remember, the powerless people in a small town beset by a bunch of vicious thugs.  The town people eventually got together and sent for tough gunslinger to come and help them get rid of the brutal gang. Well, this is the same story, except it is told in less than 11 minutes.  And, that is the genius of the director Jelmar Hufen. 

The cinematography by Aage Hollander was very crisp and blended well with the natural scenery. 

We will give this short movie .   It is a prize winner since it qualifies for the coveted moviebuffs.com exclusive category of “A Gem of a Movie” in its class.