Hardcore Never Dies - Film
by Maarten Schiethart
published: 19 / 1 / 2024
intro
Maarten Schiethart introduces us to an unusual Dutch crime drama set against a 1990s hardcore rave backdrop.
Set in the 1990s, ‘Hardcore Never Dies’ is a crime drama that takes the Rotterdam hardcore scene of the rave era as its backdrop. Against that scene we meet brothers Danny and Michael. Michael picks tomatoes and is talented at the piano. Danny, his elder brother, wheels and deals, much to the shame of his family, who work hard and waste nothing, while Danny splashes it out, be it on loan or stolen. The film's very accurate sets show the deft hand of the director Jim Taihuttu: in the scene when a gang came to smash up Danny's apartment, I almost felt sorry for the analog equipment and vintage 12in records that got battered or shattered. Taihuttu's previous film, ‘The East (De Oost)’, on Dutch warfare in Indonesia, was a box office hit in 2020. Michael dreams of being a professional pianist but can’t get through his education, and finds himself being drawn into Danny’s world, of the Rotterdam “gabber” scene. The music we came to know as gabber describes the era little more than as background noise. Always near the surface, the terrordome gabber soundtrack takes you by the hand in a doomy grip, as gloom and doom likewise loom over the two brothers. As the story continues, Michael finds himself not just entering Danny’s world of gabber but also his drug dealing, and the stakes only get higher as Michael finds himself further and further involved. Taihuttu saves his best for the film’s climax, involving an encounter with the far right and a drug rip-off. The film is co-produced by Amazon and likely to go worldwide, with a script unlike almost any film made in The Netherlands, with dialogue true to everyday speech on the streets. It’s a document and a testament to a subversive culture that’s now heavily criminalized.
Play in YouTube:-
most viewed articles
current edition
Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sala Apolo, Barcelona, 29/11/2023 and La Paqui, Madrid, 30/11/2023Anthony Phillips - Interview
Difford and Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook
Rain Parade - Interview
Oldfield Youth Club - Interview
Autumn 1904 - Interview
Shaw's Trailer Park - Interview
Cafe No. 9, Sheffield and Grass Roots Venues - Comment
Pete Berwick - ‘Too Wild to Tame’: The story of the Boyzz:
James Whild Lea - Interview
previous editions
Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down the StairsHeavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl EP
Michael Lindsay Hogg - Interview
World Party - Interview
Ain't That Always The Way - Alan Horne After The Sound of Young Scotland 2
Joy Division - The Image That Made Me Weep
Joy Division - The Image That Made Me Weep
Dwina Gibb - Interview
Barrie Barlow - Interview
World Party - Interview with Karl Wallinger
most viewed reviews
current edition
Marika Hackman - Big SighSerious Sam Barrett - A Drop of the Morning Dew
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland - Swing Fever
Loves - True Love: The Most of The Loves
Ian M Bailey - We Live in Strange Times
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Banter - Heroes
Autumn 1904 - Tales of Innocence
Roberta Flack - Lost Takes
Posey Hill - No Clear Place to Fall
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart