Loose Ends

In Loose Ends, Ton Koole attempts to unravel and demythologize the reality of demented, elderly Dutch people. It is not the problem that is the main thing, but the actuality of demented people themselves. An actuality in which the failing memory predominates, inhibitions and conventions are dropped. Without wasting any words feelings are expressed: "The time it takes to get to heaven". The form is unusual. Two women who are also demented guide the spectator through the corridors of the nursing home in Hoogvliet, where the film-maker and his crew stayed themselves and registered two months of the inhabitants' lives. In the five acute portraits of demented people, these two women play 'the supporting role of the wanderers'. They are a refuge between the confrontational, emotional, and intimate scenes. The border between directing and registering seems small, but Koole does not stage anything; he is looking for the same innocence as he finds in his main characters. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)