Mark Kermode reviews Close - Kermode and Mayo's Take
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The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi's mother. "Close" is a film about friendship and responsibility.
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Remembering the scene with Leo in the arm cast. I was a mess. It said so much about how no one would judge a male for crying from physical pain, or anyone for screaming on a roller coaster. That moment was just beautifully telegraphed. For a film w/ little dialogue, there is much to be said!
This is my favourite among the Oscar nominees for Best international film. The main kid never acted before, yet he gave one of the most powerful and challenging performances I've seen recently. THAT scene halfway through the movie broke my heart, and the ending was beautiful and cathartic. Lukas Dhont's directing style reminds me a lot of Celine Sciamma, both directors capture kids' behaviour in a realistic and compassionate way.
@brijanwilson1888
Жыл бұрын
mine too, it's fantastic
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but maybe you could see the character of Remi as an manifestation of childhood itself. As a kid you try to rid yourself of your childhood as fast as possible and reach adulthood, but damn do you long for it when you finally do get there.
@player-ic9yj
Жыл бұрын
i love this interpretation
@problem.skinnn
Жыл бұрын
Great take, I love this
@ax0r
11 ай бұрын
Great take! I loved it!
@RcsN505
6 ай бұрын
Wonderful take. Some people have said that Remi could also represent LGBT+ kids, and the toll that heteronormative and gender roles take on you. In my experience as a little gay boy in a very macho society, childhood and adolescence were awful times; adults (and their kids) made my life quite miserable. It's a bit sad but I do not look back at it with longing feelings...
I was so captured by this film, I didn’t even realise how little talking there was until I saw the comments, so simple yet powerful
Perfect example of a movie critic that loves cinema and another proof that Mark is the best at his craft.
Completely agree with Mark's review, this is definitely a film where less is far more. So little is said, but so much is communicated. Still feeling a bit teary about it.
Totally agree, it's a film full of space. It's beautifully tragic. Should def win an Oscar. Brilliantly acted
This film is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
I have never felt so gutted by a film, i cant even begin to explain what it means to me
Beautifully understated poignancy is by far my favourite genre. Genius when it is done well, as it is here. Such a beautiful film.
Thank you. I found the film both compelling and utterly heartbreaking to watch. A sophisticated and multi layered piece, expertly using a range of filmic techniques to enhance powerful feelings. And yes: less is definitely more here.
I ugly cried hard like 4 times. It's so good and sad.
Absolutely breathtaking film - devastating
Just saw this today at Vue. I loved it. I was repeatedly in tears with it. My feeling were very much like yours Mark. And great that my local Vue has it on. But then my Vue always have something decent on aside from the mainstream fodder. Tomorrow going to see Buck and the Preacher and Wed EO.
Agree almost entirely with the review. The score was superb, the cinematography had so much life to it. My only criticism was that the midway revelation seemed to happen too early into the film for me, and made the latter half feel a tad like there was nowhere else for the film to go. I still loved it though.
@Schmidtelpunkt
Жыл бұрын
It is interesting that there are many people expecting the event to be the second turning point of the movie. But even though it feels like the biggest event happening, it isn't. The process of grieving is just a seamless continuation of the Leo's attempts to distance himself from Rémi. It needs this time, even though the drama becomes a lot more internal than the interaction between the two boys.
Fantastic film. Hugely powerful, incredibly acted.
A mi me paso algo parecido, con la diferencia que mi mejor amigo sigue vivo y hasta el día de hoy no nos hablamos. Aunque se haya ido, viví su ausencia como si en verdad hubiera fallecido y sigo pensando que será de su existencia ahora. Sigo guardando luto en su cumpleaños, ya van siete años que no se nada de su persona y se que no le importa tanto lo que a mi me pase en estos momentos. Así que he tenido que aprender a vivir de nuevo y ha sido difícil, no lo niego, pero bien. Ahora estoy en otra etapa de mi vida intentando superar ciertas cosas y espero algún día se decida, aunque este en mi lecho de muerte.
Makes me think of “so long, see you tomorrow” by William maxwell.
@abrain
7 ай бұрын
yes, I had the same thought
I'm sure I won't be able to see this film here in the United States. They'll make a big deal about it while being very selective about where it can be screened. Then it will dissappear into obscurity just like the film Danseur did. That's just messed up. 😕
Loved this film. Though I think it should be banned. I was crying, devastated, throughout it. Not done that, in this way, for years. It blew my mind.
@bilinski2546
Ай бұрын
You think it should be banned?
Managed to see this last night - started promisingly as we explore young male relationship dynamics - something very rarely so openly portrayed on screen - and then for some reason the director decided to end that part of the story and make it a film about mourning - beautifully done but to start with something so unexplored and to end with something so familiar was disappointing. I had the painful realisation midway through that I knew what was coming next and was watching a film reach quite a TV movie-esque predictable conclusion - the total opposite of how I felt at the beginning. I think cinema is at its best when it explores new territory - but saying that, revisiting known territory but in a new historical context is also interesting. The way these kids explore emotions is profoundly moving. Definitely one of the most beautifully shot films of the last 5 years - the luminosity of the colours, the greens, pinks, red flowers, the golden skin, were incredible.
@Schmidtelpunkt
Жыл бұрын
But which TV movie explored grief so thoroughly that it is a trope now? I can hardly think of a movie which would follow this side of the interaction or where the movie is mainly about the aftermath.
@girafingo9280
Жыл бұрын
@@Schmidtelpunkt yep solid point
@smurfette_blues7922
11 ай бұрын
I get that grief is a huge concept explored in this but it still felt like a coming of age story overall, albeit a really really painful one. Honestly if the film didn't do this story flip early on, I think it would have fallen onto the tired tropes of coming of age films.
I think that midpoint catastrophe was garish, and gave Dhont an easy way to squeeze tear ducts for ugly-cry melodrama. How much more challenging for the filmmakers--and ultimately, how much more fulfilling for the audience--if they had instead decided to employ observation, and nuance, and insight in telling the story of a friendship fading into a distant memory. After all, much, much more of us lose friendships without going through that soap-operatic plot turn.
@tommykevans3
Жыл бұрын
THANK YOU!
@ML-yw4hv
Жыл бұрын
100%
@otsoko66
Жыл бұрын
The 'bury your gays trope' is too ingrained -- Directors like Dhont don't know how to deal with a potentially gay character except to kill him off. As a movie-goer, I have been hit too often by the "shocking surprise" of the gay or gay-coded character getting killed off ... just so the straight characters can learn a valuable lesson. (what's the lesson for us gay folks? Die faster?) We need to stop acting like it's ever a surprise. It's a tired old cliché that needs to be called out for the homophobic BS that it is.
@stuartdavies2264
Жыл бұрын
@@otsoko66 I'm not attuned to gauging who might be gay in movies, but I got nothing from Remi that he was gay. He was open, he was pre-pubescent, he was angelic, he was gentle. Those traits don't make him gay.
@edwardcoward5003
Жыл бұрын
I loved this movie so much. That was my chilhood. I don't like when people talk about making a different movie. This Is It. Like It or leave It.
The film team did an excellent job. Each scene is carefully crafted. It frustrates me, however, that the close bond of friendship between Léo and Rémi can only be experienced in the first third of the movie. Both actors were talented, likeable and still childlike. What a waste! The filmmaker loses the thread of his movie so completely.
the clip is the first scene. if you get past the sweetness of these seconds you will possibly be beguiled by this and all the rest. we didn't get past the officious tone, and had enough of this blatant concoction when the school trip was cut short. it is narrative nonsense.
Director Dhont has found two incredible leads in Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. But for two-thirds of the screen time, we only see one of the two. What a waste of talent! If one of them had done something terrible, which would not have been successful and would have been understood by both families (Léo's family and Rémi's family) as a cry for help, the friendship could have been rekindled. How can a tender friendship hold its own in a critical environment (secondary school)? Eden Dambrine is a ballet dancer in real life. That would have given beautiful moments in the film. There is a recent interview with actor Gustav De Waele. Search term: bruzz Gustav De Waele I used a machine translation to read this interview (with Gustav de Waele) in Flemish.