The Northerners

The Northerners (De Noorderlingen, 1992) — watch online on iFILM, a Dutch black comedy from writer-director Alex van Warmerdam, who also appears in the cast. One street in a small 1960s Netherlands village, no exits, every resident quietly holding something in.

A mailman opens and reads every letter on his route. A butcher fixates on jungle fantasies. Couples eye each other across rooms where nothing gets said. Van Warmerdam directs with cool anthropological distance — the comedy never ridicules, it just observes people whose desires have run aground. The result is understated and oddly humane. Stream The Northerners on iFILM.