in these young men's stories, as they become caught up in a collision of older and newer values, you can also see the painful emergence of the Dutch nation from its own Calvinist, homophobic, colonialist past.

Imagine a Mike Leigh film set in Holland with motorbike stunts, packed with authentic action sequences and sexual frankness...

A resolutely humorless (though sometimes unintentionally funny) Dutch movie about three young men who dream of finding fame and fortune in motorcycle racing and, instead, find themselves. The search is unrewarding and seems interminable.

Spetters is a satisfyingly old fashioned sort of movie with the explicit sexuality of more contemporary films. It’s a little bit closety, but its half truthfulness is more enjoyable than none at all.