I am done with my post-Venice movie break (which I had to interrupt once in order not to miss “Triangle of Sadness” – I got post-Venice lazy on the writing for that one, but it does not mean one should not run to the movie theatre to watch it… just run as fast as you can. Now.)
The November weather has finally reached us it is cold, it is wet, it is dark… it is that movie time of the year!
My movie buddy would tend to argue with me that, though it is movie time, maybe it does not mean that I need to take her to watch yet another heart-breaking movie. To her defence, I have to admit that I did get her through many movie hardships in the past year (encompassing senile dementia, drug addiction, tragic deaths, suicides and others). I have been told at the end of the “Close” screening that I owe her 5 comedies and that I am not entitled to pick the next movie that we will go and watch together – if she agrees to go and see any movie with me until the next Mostra.
Even the 2 glasses of bubbles I bought for us to make us nicely happy and relaxed during the screening did not help my case. I got crucified when the lights went on (as I was actively trying to make my totally wet face at least half presentable) with a “I had forgotten what it means to go to the cinema with you”. Ouch.
Meanwhile, on this side of the movie-lovers spectre, I had the time of my life (though I do have to admit that maybe it was not the smartest pick for a Friday). One needs to be mentally prepared for the fact that, as he tends to do, Lukas Dhont will tear your little heart out of your body and cut it into thousand tiny pieces. My tears started running down when the movie was about mid-way. For almost an hour, when the tear on my right cheek was down on my chin, the tear on my left cheek started its trip to the bottom of my face. A constant flow of water experience.
Indeed, I believe that Lukas Dhont is one of the most sensitive living directors I am aware of. What he throws at you is just pure tenderness. My born in the 80s self struggles to understand how a bloke born in 1991 (a kid basically, seen from my perspective) has by now managed to make two films (“Girl” and “Close”) that are as pure, subtle and precise in terms of human feelings as can be. Every time I reflect on it, I think to myself “this guy must be such an amazing person”. I would really pay a lot to see how he works with his actors in order to make them express so much in a look or a silence.
Extraordinary actors by the way. Obviously Emilie Dequenne has nothing to prove by now (but gosh, that guy manages to take even her to another level) but these kids. These kids are just true, real, not acting (and god knows that I am provided with an integrated very powerful anti-acting-kids radar inside of me). They are as close, spontaneous but as well as cruel as kids can be.
Add to this that it is beautifully filmed in terms of lights, aesthetics, colours and you reach the obvious conclusion that it definitely deserved the 2022 Cannes Grand Prix it received.
Though my movie buddy would recommend that you swallow one or two antidepressant pills prior to attending the screening (I would simply opt for the 3 packages of tissues).
Klara's cinema 