Met Mes
In the satirical third feature film by Sam de Jong (Prins, Goldie), an exaggerated report of theft by a TV personality causes a chain of events.
A TV personality is briefly distracted whilst filming her pet project – ‘a warm, endearing portrait of society’ – only to discover her camera is gone. The police, however, hardly take her report seriously and the insurance company doesn’t want to pay– until she lies, saying it was a robbery involving ‘a knife’, met mes. Which immediately has huge consequences for Yousef, the young suspect.
Director Sam de Jong makes visually exuberant films, as was shown by his debut, PRINS (2015), and GOLDIE (2019), filmed in the United States. In MET MES, everything is in overdrive: from the musical score to the striking camera angles and movements, from the synthetic shell suits and green eyeliner to the game show sound effects intended to emphasise emotions.
In this artificial environment, actor Shahine El-Hamus’s portrayal of teenager Yousef has something vulnerable about it, under his ever-changing hair colour. He is surrounded by all manner of respectable adults, who don’t want to hear his side of the story or just act in their own self-interest. Using subdued humour, De Jong tells a story of hypocrisy and stigmatisation. One that is painfully common, but, if you think about it, at least as surreal as the absurdist visuals. (source: www.iffr.com)