Father & son bond over the loss of their women in Robert Jan Westdijk's charming WATERBOYS

Yet another fine European movie rescued-from-obscurity (so far as American audiences are concerned) by Corinth Films, WATERBOYS takes its title from the renowned (in Scotland, anyway) British-Irish folk rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983, The Waterboys, whose sound has gone through various iterations during the nearly forty years that the band (with a severn-year hiatus during the 1990s) has been making music.

Music, in fact, play a major part in this alternately funny, charming and moving tale about two men -- father and son -- whose behavior has gotten them tossed out of the homes of both their women: the father's wife and the son's girlfriend.

As written and directed by the Dutch filmmaker Robert Jan Westdijk (shown, right), the movie offers parents who've long been smitten with The Waterboys' music, while their son, not especially a fan, makes music of his own via the cello, which, we eventually see and hear, he plays quite beautifully. 

The father, Victor, is essayed by a noted Netherlands-born actor Leopold Witte (below, right), while son Zack is brought to slowly resonating life by the younger Dutch actor Tim Linde (below, left). 

Initially, we're not terribly taken with either of these guys, nor do they seem to be with each other. But as we get to know them, we begin to understand both what is going on between them and how and why each man continues to struggle with his own individual problems. Which are certainly noticeable -- particularly Dad's.

While we meet the very pretty (and very angry) girlfriend of Zack, we never even see Victor's wife, Elsbeth. Yet so well-written and -conceived is Westdijk's screenplay that Elsbeth comes quite marvelously to life in any case. She's always there, somehow working behind the scenes, and her importance to both her husband and son comes ever clearer as the film moves on.

With suddenly having nowhere to live, Zack must accompany his dad -- who's a successful crime fiction writer -- to a book-signing in Edinburgh, where Dad is confronted by a woman from that branch of his publisher who refuses to put up with even an ounce of his bullshit (the very fine Helen Belbin, shown above, with her back to us) even as Zack meets and bonds with a lovely young hotel worker, played by Julie McLellan, below. 

By the gentle, moving finale, no major bridges have been crossed, nor tons of growth achieved. But a small change can be even more believable and certainly important, and so it is here. "We are who we are," this movie seems to say, but even who we are can be tinkered with and perhaps improved a bit.

From Corinth Films, in Dutch (with English subtitles) and English, and running just 93 minutes, Waterboys hits home video this coming Tuesday, April 20, on DVD, and is available via digital streaming on Prime Video (members can view it free).

Boy, do we need it now! Hans Pool's BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD

In this time when dictators everywhere from Russia, China, Brazil and the Philippines to Eastern Europe (and of course, right here in the USA: that asshole and would-be dictator we'll call Ronald Rump) are doing their best to cow their people into not being able -- and finally not even caring -- to tell the true from the false, what a joy it is to find out about a little group of online investigative journalists collectively know as Bellingcat. Yes: as in "belling the cat," whch is, not coincidentally, how and why this group first got its name. BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD, written, directed and shot by Hans Pool, a filmmaker from The Netherlands, is as important a documentary for these fraught times as any I've seen of late.

Mr. Pool, shown at right, has put together such a necessary document here, especially since, at this time, so much of what the world sees and accepts as news is often and deliberately fake. How to tell the difference between what's real and what is not is of ever more vital importance. Consequently, to have a group such as Bellingcat dedicated to ferreting out truth from lies becomes a necessity. And the fact that the group is made up of citizen journalists using mostly what they've been able to find online (and then find evidence of its veracity) makes them ever more valuable.

The filmmaker introduces us to the various people involved in Bellingcat, beginning with its founder, Britisher Eliot Higgins (above, right), then moving on to other major figures Christiaan Triebert (below) and Timmi Allen whose abilities and personal situations have made them vital to the organization. We learn some of the ways in which their forensic skills help determine truth from lies online, and we are shown how and why all this can and is being used as verifiable evidence. We also hear from various social media and journalism experts from academia who offer thoughtful, precise explanations of what's going on in our current times. 

Claire Wardle (shown below), for instance, notes that in our earlier technology times, we seemed to most fear things like robots, when what might bring us down instead is technology that simply reflects back on us our own worst aspects. Later, Ms Wardle adds, regarding the internet, "If you see information that reinforces your world view, you have no interest in checking its veracity." Which is exactly why we need and now have Bellingcat -- which has grown from a one-man operation to these days having a much larger crew.

The subjects of investigation the documentary focuses on most are the downing of MH17 (Malaysia Airlines Flight 17) in 2014, the Syria Market Bombing, and to a much less extent some of ISIS's beheadings. Regarding MH17, everything from a video of the Russian convoy with a missile missing to fuel prices of the day comes into play, and the documentary combines the thrust of a forensic thriller with the too-timely urgency for a constant search for truth. 

You will worry that Bellingcat's lives are in danger, and while they well may be, one member (whose sudden disappearance causes consternation for the others) tells us that the organization is now too big for this to be so easily managed. If you, like TrustMovies, knew almost nothing about Bellingcat going into this film, you will come out of it with a huge appreciation for all this amazing organization has done and continues to do. In terms of investigative reporting, it has shown much more storied and monolithic news media, such as The New York Times and the BBC, how to better do their job. (Christiaan Triebert, in fact, now works for The NYT!)

From First Run Features and lasting 89 minutes, the documentary arrives for U.S. viewing via DVD this Tuesday, October 13 -- for purchase and I hope rental. Expect it to stream eventually, too. When I learn how and when, I'll post that here.