Tuesday 28 May 2013

Xavier Dolan

This isn't strictly horror (although, apparently his next film is a psychological horror/thriller...), but I want to write about Quebecois film-maker Xavier Dolan because he is a frankly awesome and incredible film-maker who ranks in my top three, if not my top one, current working film-makers. He's only made three films, is making a fourth one, and I've only seen two (three if you count his short film "Indochine", which is a powerful music video for the song of the same name by College Boy). One of those films possibly my favourite of all time and the other is comfortably a masterpiece, so that counts for a lot.

He's also absolutely gorgeous.


I mean look at that!

He isn't old; he's only 24, and to have made 4 films in that time says something. His first film, made in 2008, Jai Tue Ma Mere is the one I would call my favourite and is a powerful, potent, juggernaut of emotion and tenderness that left me weeping and impacted me for days. It tells a story of a young 16 year old boy, played by Dolan (he's also an actor), who is gay, and at odds with his unknowing mother. The film strips bare the truths and harsh realities of relationships with a mother at that age, and the film itself is an electrifying, virtuoso piece of work that is alive and kicking in that rarest of ways; despite being a fierce melodrama, the film feels truly real. It's semi auto-biographical (Dolan himself is gay), and frankly I connected with it; it made me think about how I'd treated my mother, and as I've said, it left me beside myself. Only one or two other films can be said to have impacted me in a similar way, and none to the extent that that film did.

He made it when he was 19, which is both impressive and accounts for the reason the film works as well as it does; the experiences Dolan presumably went through must have been fresh in his head, and Dolan is also careful to not be too one-sided; the mother in the film isn't painted out to be perfect either. The film is uncompromising and pulls no punches, and it works perfectly as a result- a controlled cinematic explosion the likes of which I've never seen before; probably my favourite film of the decade. It's gorgeous to look at, intelligent, unflinching (it has an anal sex scene!), and just about a perfect film.

Then, he made "Heartbeats", which is a more stylish and perhaps grown up film notable for it's lack of restraint; cinematically, Jai Tue was an absolute joy, employing symbolism, slow-motion, and pre-scene foreshadowing with giddy abandon, but this film really does go to eleven on that front. It basically tells a pretty simple story of two friends, a young gay man (Dolan), and his female best friend, who both become infatuated and obsessed with a mysterious, enigmatic young man called Nicolas; the film works as an exploration of the false kind of love we get when we meet someone new, that thing we actually mistake for real love; the film is as showy and superficial as the "love" the characters feel for Nicolas, but much like how that "love" draws them in perhaps against their better judgement, so are we drawn in to the stylish void.

The film does, ultimately, allow us to see the negative impacts of this infatuation, and could be said to have a happy ending on that front, but this is not a film you go into for morals or a message; much like Jai Tue, it exists on its own terms and allows you to make up your mind; through basing itself in the real world (albeit a frighteningly bohemian one where fancy restaurants, arthouse cinema and casual bedsharing is all okay), it allows us to connect and come to our own conclusions.

And those are his two films; more than enough for him to cement himself as probably the best film-maker working today. His films are French, very French (even though they're made in Canada), and obviously someone not particularly comfortable with homosexual themes and actions need not apply (although lighten up if that's the case!), but for those who can take them, they are superb films. They really, really are.

As a final point, he has acted in a smattering of other films, including Martyrs; however, he gets killed within fifteen minutes in that one, and I found the scene more distressing than I ought to have done.

Either way, check him out!

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