4/5 A Nasty, Funny Black Comedy
  by C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
This is a movie I had to make myself stay with for the first 20 minutes. I was rewarded with a nasty black comedy, some fine performances and a satisfying take on the worm-that-turns theme. Hugo (Hugo Metsers) and Goof (Roeland Fernhout) are two buddies in Amsterdam who pick up foreign backpackers, charm them, seduce them and then steal their money. They also rip out the women's picture pages from their passports as trophies, which they post in a sexual conquest shrine they have in the apartment they share. Hugo is the dominant one, cynical, cold-hearted and selfish. Goof goes along; he's a follower, a nice enough guy with an open grin and a fairly good heart. Then they meet Lara (Vlatka Simac), and the games really begin. She says she's Russian and draws such a picture of Siberia that Goof falls in love with her and wants to take her back there. She moves in with the two. Hugo doesn't like it, or her. Before long it's clear that Lara is playing games of her own...and it's unclear just who is being hustled.

Westdijk is a young Dutch director who gives this film all the fancy angles, fast cuts, flashes of black and white that fans of Run Lola Run and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels could wish for. The movie began working for me, finally, because of three things. First, the dawning realization that these two hustlers just may have met their match. Second, the performance of Vlatka Simac. She has big eyes, a calm face and manages to appear desirable and probably untrustworthy at the same time. Third, the performance of Roeland Fernhout. He really has a goofy, open smile. It's easy to like him even though what he does to the girls he and Hugo pick up is not very nice. When he falls for Lara, then realizes what the score really is, he pulls off a triple play which is funny and satisfying.

I wound up liking this movie, but it's one of those films, I think, that you need to give a chance to develop before making up your mind. The DVD picture and audio is fine. Although a good portion of the film is in Dutch with subtitles, much of the story also is in English, the common language Lara and Goof (and Hugo) can speak.

4/5 DECEPTIVE DUTCH DUDES
  by Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)

Robert Jan Westdijk's SIBERIA (Home Vision) is an edgy film about Dutch scam artists -- cavalier Hugo (Hugo Metsers) and his submissive sidekick Goof (Roeland Fernhout). They seduce and rob female backpackers visiting Amsterdam and then rip out the identity pages of their victims' passports as a souvenir in their private competition to collect IDs from around the world. They keep these mementos and the stolen loot in a cabinet shrine at Goof's place where they both live.

Things change quickly when they meet street smart Lara (Vlatka Simac), from Siberia. To Hugo's dismay, and against their self-proclaimed rules, Goof falls in love with Lara (who knows nothing of their crimes) and invites her to stay at their place. This creates problems with their ongoing scam. Soon, love sick Goof suggests to Hugo that the three use their ill-gotten gains for a trip to Siberia. Hugo says no, that he and Goof must continue their competition of seduction and robbery with the winner taking all the money. To say more would spoil this deliciously amoral and cynical story of greed, sex and deception. "Siberia" is a cold-hearted, funny and sometimes explicit film about a very twisted friendship.

Shot on location in Amsterdam, this great looking movie is artfully edited with time-lapse and grainy black and white moments. Junkie XL's urgent techno score reflects the amped images of the druggy city and the speedy, triangulating, twisty plot.





4/5 Fun and fluffy
  by Shelby Peterson (Wisconsin, USA)
I've spent a lot of time with this movie, because I helped design the packaging. Even after the number of times I've watched it, I still enjoy it. Siberia is entertaining and interesting, not a movie you have to really think about to watch. It's definately something that 20-somethings will really enjoy, but that older audiences might find a little trite. It's a great flick to vege out too; total fluff.