While Mark Gill's "The Voorman Problem" is intended to be darkly comedic, I found the short mostly disturbing and often offputting. That's definitely not a bad thing, but the comedic element, in my opinion, is something I found extremely subtle rather than prominent, as many viewers of the short had claimed. The film is a neatly and intriguingly shot short following a psychiatrist named Doctor Williams (Martin Freeman) who is called into a mental hospital for urgent evaluation of a patient named Voorman (Tom Hollander), who has convinced practically every other patient in the facility that he is indeed God. When Williams visits Voorman, he takes note of his slow, confident speech and his wily personality, as Voorman claims to have created the world in nine days. When Williams asks how that is possible, seeing as he himself is thirty-five-years-old and has clear and vivid memories of his childhood, Voorman replies in an assured manner that he himself created those memories, ideas, Williams as a person, and even Williams' skepticism of his actual powers. The short is beautifully shot, with wide, spacious shots depicting both men in conversation and even a terrific overhead shot that shows the contents of a desk early in the film. With vague but present vibes of the underrated science-fiction film K-PAX and a solid couple twist towards the end, "The Voorman Problem" finds ways to intrigue the same way it finds ways to mystify.
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StevePulaski26 February 2014
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planktonrules8 February 2014Today I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated Live Action films. This was a very unusual year because I don't see any clear winner nor did I see any film I disliked. Oddly, however, I didn't see any I loved either and picking the winner is amazingly difficult.
Of all the nominees, "The Voorman Problem" and "Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?" are by far the slightest and least likely to win the Oscar. HOWEVER, both films are very good and I am thrilled they included them. That's because the other three are all super-depressing (one is about child soldiers/rape and murder, another is about domestic violence and the other is about a child who is dying). I and the rest of the audience really NEEDED a film like "Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?" as we might have otherwise just stuck our heads in the oven when we got home! Now I am not being critical of these depressing films--they deserved the nominations. It was just nice to see one a little lighter and more fanciful like "The Voorman Problem".
The film stars Martin Freeman--a very, very familiar face these days. He was a Hobbit in the recent Peter Jackson films and also had very memorable appearances in "Love Actually" (very memorable in this case), "Hot Fuzz" and "Sean of the Dead" (among others).
Freeman plays a psychiatrist, Dr. Williams. Williams has been called to the local prison because one of the inmates believes he's a god--and all the prisoners are now sharing this belief! They worship the man and the prison routine is in shambles. So, not surprisingly, the prison wants to ship this guy off to the looney bin. What happens next? I won't tell you....you've GOT to see it for yourself. Funny, dark and very clever. It probably won't win the Oscar but I a was sure thrilled to see it. -
Horst_In_Translation28 July 2015"The Voorman Problem" is an Academy Award nominated short film from 4 years ago. I remember vaguely that it was the suspected winner in the live action short film category, but it lost to the more emotionally involving "Helium". The main character is played by Martin Freeman who you may know from "Sherlock" or the "Hobbit" trilogy. The co-lead is played by Tom Hollander. People who watched the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise may know him. All in all, it's a decent short film in my opinion. Fairly entertaining 12 minutes and the BAFTA agreed. The script is clearly the best component in here for me. The Belgium reference was pure comedy gold and the final twist at the end with Freeman's character actually screaming that one out was hilarious as well. The other aspects weren't that outstanding, so as a whole I am okay with this getting an Oscar nomination without winning it. Good watch and I recommend it. Makes me curious about the next projects by Baldwin Li and Mark Gill.
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The acting was great MR was really creepy (but looks hot in a suit at the end) but I wouldn't like to be locked in a room with just Voorman because well... He does scary stuff to women. (Maybe that was his crime)
It was sort of a low budget silence of the lambs thing minus the cannibals, Martin Freeman was a convincing doctor but the 2 minor characters don't really figure that much. Would have liked to have seen a longer storyline and perhaps even the demise of Voorman.
Cool twist that Hollander did the theme music for this film (not many people know that he's a musician but I know!) -
myriamlenys26 February 2023"The Voorman Problem" deals with a psychiatrist charged with examining a most problematic patient. This short movie is very well acted, which, I think, represents its main charm. Still, "The Voorman Problem" struck me as disquieting rather than funny, partially because it seemed to posit the idea of a malignant God who expects humans to "entertain" him. (Think of a Roman emperor watching a handful of gladiators.) This is not a concept likely to brighten one's day. Another reason why this short made me gnash my teeth is the fact that I'm a Belgian.
While prosperous and densely populated Belgium isn't all that large, meaning that a lot of geography-challenged foreigners struggle with either the notion of its existence or else its location. As a result most Belgians regularly find themselves in a position where they have to explain, slowly and carefully, that "Belgium" is not the name of the color situated between violet and blue. Some unfortunate Belgians are even obliged to give this explanation on a daily basis, which does nothing for their mental equilibrium. In extreme cases people can even run into difficulty, witness what happened to my former professor of Economics. (This incident dates back several decades.) While visiting the USA as a tourist, he walked into a small rural bank where he tried to withdraw some money. There he found himself accused of fraud. The professor asked for an atlas so that he could prove the existence of Belgium, but then he discovered that the atlas handed to him was a shoddily printed thing. It did not contain a recognizable Belgium, only the words "Brussel/Bruxelles" printed over the general region separating the Netherlands from France. The poor soul left the bank sans money, with the admonitions of the cashiers ringing in his ears.
Now add in the condescension of larger nations and the imperial ambitions of certain enemies - such as the Nazis during World War II - and yes, around this part of the world we have grown familiar with attempts to ignore or change our borders. So this "Walloon lagoon" business isn't all that original. It isn't all that clever either. Rather, it reflects non-clever attributes like pride, laziness, malice or ignorance. From a short shot anno 2011 one might expect something better.