Friday, October 31, 2014
New twists
I have enjoyed all four of the films by the young Xavier Dolan, a gay film maker from Quebec.
Today's film was scary and taut and had me throughout. A gay man goes to his lover's funeral in a provincial town. He is totally unknown to the family who has no idea that their young man was even gay.
The hostility of the brother (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) who gets the picture and tries to suppress the gay partner's participation or, failing that, to control it is palpable. It is pretty clear that the brother is not free of some homo urges himself. When he fights with Dolan it is actually pretty hot, in a frightening way.
This is not a lightweight film about "the gays". It is a scary psychological thriller that has homophobia as the root cause of a bad situation but in reality is great study of how family's try to protect themselves.
The older brother of the dead partner is a work of frightening art. Menacing, cold, seemingly unstoppable. Dolan himself is the visiting lover and he is great at doing what is necessary to protect himself and to do what he needs to do for his late boyfriend.
Tom a la Ferme /Tom at the Farm (2014)
The photography and the rural scenes are wonderful. Drab and menacing, almost characters in the play. Quite a production which I will rate with a 5 because I will see it again when I can collect myself. I am still a little unsettled by it.
