The Paradise Suite (2015) Reviews

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since it did win the Golden Calf for the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had actually no idea what the damned thing was about and it was pretty tough to watch again another movie about human trafficking just a day after watching 'The Whistleblower' which was also dealing with the same subject. This movie was eventually a cruel reminder that many girls behind these red windows in the Netherlands are actually victims of human trafficking. I mean, sure, prostitution is still not legal in the Netherlands but, since it is tolerated, shouldn't there be some strict controls about who is sitting behind these windows? Or maybe it is easier said than done and these girls are just too afraid to talk to the police. Anyway, I still feel ashamed that, when I was younger, I went a couple of times to the Red Light District in Amsterdam with some buddies just to have some fun watching these girls. Sure, at the time, I was naive enough to think that most of them were willingly doing this job but it was still a shitty thing to do. Anyway, coming back to our main feature,  even though it was better than your average Dutch production, it still didn't really convince me though. I mean, I used to love the hyperlink thing when it was something new, creative and interesting but, by now, it has become a seriously overused gimmick and this movie was a good example, I'm afraid. The tricky thing with a hyperlink feature is that you have to make sure each single tale is properly developed but, in this case, most of them felt rather half-baked. It could have worked if they focused only on Jenya and Yaya but the other stories didn't work very well, especially the one involving a Swedish conductor which had really nothing to do with the rest of the movie and this tale was just so poorly linked with the rest of the movie. Anyway, to conclude,  in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.