Semi-Soet is South Africa’s very first post-transitional Afrikaans romantic comedy in the most Hollywood sense of the word. The leads are attractive, the story improbable, the humour often forced; the locations are breathtakingly beautiful; mistaken identities and misunderstandings abound. The formula is as old as classical cinema itself. Director Joshua Rous does not seek to undermine the formula in any way - the film even has a "wild animal" moment - but his command of the Hollywood romcom form is sure and confident. It's a lightweight mix of A Walk in the Clouds meets The Proposal.
Jaci van Jaarsveld (Anel Alexander) works for the ad company Mojo. To her boss’s (Corine du Toit) concern, a corporate cannibal nicknamed The Jackal (Nico Panagio) has indicated that he wants to buy out the company, which leads to large scale retrenchment. When The Jackal arrives for a meeting with Mojo, Jaci mistakes him for someone else and before you know it, Jaci and her corporate nemesis are on their way to a romantic business weekend (!) at Vrede & Rust wine estate.
In tow are the obligatory supporting characters, with Sandra Vaughn as Jaci’s chirpy sidekick and Louw Venter as Hertjie, The Jackal’s lawyer colleague who here poses as a gay stylist. 7de Laan’s Diaan Lawrenson also appears as Jaci’s ex-boyfriend’s (Paul du Toit) current squeeze, the dim Chadrie. Although her character has little to do, seeing as she plays the consummate blonde bimbo, Lawrenson has one of the film’s best timed comic reactions.
Speaking of stereotypes: how unfortunate that Semi-Soet would resort to so many of them, especially of the gay variety. Surely there’s a romantic comedy that can work without indulging redundant gender stereotypes? So much of the film offers a viable Afrikaans complement to American romcoms that such a major misstep is indeed disheartening. Jodi Abrahams is a fine actor (he was one of the highlights in the TV series Hard Copy), and his talents are wasted as he prances around as an camp model agent.
If you’ve seen a couple of American romcoms you know what to expect, but to their credit the creative team keeps the film engaging for most of its running time (starting with some inventive opening credits). As the film nears its end, things get too farfetched and simultaneously old fashioned as the film utilises the type of plot developments that characterised much of 1990s sitcom fare. Regardless, the film puts some of its American contemporaries to shame; it beats genre prototypical drivel like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with ease.
Speaking of stereotypes: how unfortunate that Semi-Soet would resort to so many of them, especially of the gay variety. Surely there’s a romantic comedy that can work without indulging redundant gender stereotypes? So much of the film offers a viable Afrikaans complement to American romcoms that such a major misstep is indeed disheartening. Jodi Abrahams is a fine actor (he was one of the highlights in the TV series Hard Copy), and his talents are wasted as he prances around as an camp model agent.
If you’ve seen a couple of American romcoms you know what to expect, but to their credit the creative team keeps the film engaging for most of its running time (starting with some inventive opening credits). As the film nears its end, things get too farfetched and simultaneously old fashioned as the film utilises the type of plot developments that characterised much of 1990s sitcom fare. Regardless, the film puts some of its American contemporaries to shame; it beats genre prototypical drivel like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with ease.
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