Some critics like to put artists in drawers. For Xavier Dolan the drawer enfant terrible seems suitable, remembering the raw, often hysterical energy of I Have Killed My Mother of 2009. However, now at 30, Dolan is too old to be a wunderkind. Already It's Only the End of the World was for me a turning point towards a more mature and reflective Dolan.
Dolan has become a grown-up and so have his characters also. Matthias (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas)is already climbing up the career ladder in a law firm. His best buddy Maxime (played by Dolan) is a bit restrained by his addicted mother (Anne Dorval, almost a follow-up of Mommy from 2014). Maxime is about to leave their gang to work in Australia for two years.
Matthias and Maxime are working out together; it is an open question if they are also making out together. At a party Rivette's annoying little sister imposes her both "impressionistic and expressionistic" film project on them. The project involves kissing between Matthias and Maxime.
"A kiss is just a kiss"? Not when oppressed sexuality is involved. The two buddies are, maybe, to discover new facets in themselves.
The party at the beginning is full of that nervous energy that used to be the trademark of Dolan, but already the quarrels with his mother show that the pubertal rebellion is replaced more lowered reactions. - There is a bit melancholy about not more so young twens. When the summer is over, nothing is no longer as it used to be. There is great tenderness in this film, which is also a great hymn to friendship.
We are always very close to the actors, with only some few notable long shots. There are brilliant, sometimes sensational beautiful shots. And Dolan is not afraid of big feelings.
Here is a big welcome to the mature and more restrained Xavier Dolan. It is exciting to see an artist in the making. And what a great actor Dolan is!
9/10
Dolan has become a grown-up and so have his characters also. Matthias (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas)is already climbing up the career ladder in a law firm. His best buddy Maxime (played by Dolan) is a bit restrained by his addicted mother (Anne Dorval, almost a follow-up of Mommy from 2014). Maxime is about to leave their gang to work in Australia for two years.
Matthias and Maxime are working out together; it is an open question if they are also making out together. At a party Rivette's annoying little sister imposes her both "impressionistic and expressionistic" film project on them. The project involves kissing between Matthias and Maxime.
"A kiss is just a kiss"? Not when oppressed sexuality is involved. The two buddies are, maybe, to discover new facets in themselves.
The party at the beginning is full of that nervous energy that used to be the trademark of Dolan, but already the quarrels with his mother show that the pubertal rebellion is replaced more lowered reactions. - There is a bit melancholy about not more so young twens. When the summer is over, nothing is no longer as it used to be. There is great tenderness in this film, which is also a great hymn to friendship.
We are always very close to the actors, with only some few notable long shots. There are brilliant, sometimes sensational beautiful shots. And Dolan is not afraid of big feelings.
Here is a big welcome to the mature and more restrained Xavier Dolan. It is exciting to see an artist in the making. And what a great actor Dolan is!
9/10
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