La Peau de Bax

Schneider (Tom Dewispelaere) begins his birthday in bliss. His adorable little girls sing him awake while his pretty wife plans a dinner party in his honour. Then Schneider gets a call about a job that just won't wait. Mertens (Eugene Bervoets) needs Schneider to liquidate a novelist. It's a no-brainer: the target lives alone in a little house by a lake. Schneider should be done by noon. Bax (van Warmerdam) is awakened by his girlfriend, whom he promptly instructs to get out. His emotionally unstable daughter Francisca (Maria Kraakman) is coming over today, and he doesn't need distractions. Then Bax gets a call that threatens to spoil everything. Someone is coming to Bax's lakeside house, explains Mertens, and that someone needs to be liquidated. Bax may be known as a novelist, but he knows a thing or two about doling out death. (Toronto International Film Festival)