Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Close   Belgium, Netherlands, France, 2022
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director:  Lukas Dhont
Cast: Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émile Dequenee, Lėa Drucker 
Running Time: 105 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles 

Awards: Academy Award Nomination, Best International Feature; Cannes Grand Prize: Lukas Dhont; Chicago International Film Festival: Director’s Award, Best Feature Award; 
Monclair Film Festival: Performance, Eden Dambrine; Morelia International Film Festival: Best International Film; National Board of Review: Best International Film; Seville European Film Festival: Best Actor (Eden Dambrine), Grand Jury Award:  29 other wins, 62 other nominations.

“Dhont tells a familiar story in what feels like a fresh and urgently new way, with sensitivity, sadness and promising glimmers of hope.”—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

In rural Belgium, two 13-year-old boys, Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele), are best friends who exhibit a deeply intimate affection for one another. They have a habit of sleeping next to each other in the same bed in Rémi's bedroom, though nothing sexual occurs. 

Rémi's parents, Sophie and Peter, accept this without judgment and love Léo like a second child. Léo's family also helps run agricultural work at a flower farm, where Léo and Rémi also like to play together.

After a carefree summer together, the two boys start high school and find themselves in the same class. But soon taunts are directed towards the boys by classmates who notice their intimacy. 

Wanting to avoid being ostracized, Leo begins new friendships and takes up ice hockey, from which he deliberately excludes Rémi. Over the school year, Léo becomes progressively distant from Rémi, despite Rémi's attempts at interaction. 

The chasm widens between the boys, leaving Remi immensely upset. As young teenagers, they don’t understand their feelings or comprehend why they even have them. Confused and distraught, Remi confronts Leo. A physical confrontation ensues, further widening the gulf between the two friends.

The movie is heartbreaking precisely because it proves that even teenagers are capable of intense emotional feelings even if they don’t know what those feelings are. 

There is loss, leaving families to mourn and share in grief, and a coming to terms. 

Director Lukas Dhont carefully and thoughtfully examines physical and emotional closeness between boys, and the role of fragility in masculinity, in this touching coming-of-age portrait of friendship, heartbreak, and healing.  Young Dambrine and de Waele give credible, touching performances that will not be easily forgotten.

Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Aftersun    United Kingdom
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director:  Charlotte Wells
Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Running Time: 99 minutes
Language: English 
Rating:  R

Awards: Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Best New Filmmaker, Best Editing; National Society of Film Critics: Best Director; Palm Springs International Film Society: Directors to Watch award; Toronto Film Critics Association Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor.  47 wins  127 nominations

“Aftersun cuts you in two with such emotional intensity, such impressive dramatic force, that I could only sit and fight back the inevitable tears.”—Barry Hertz, Globe and Mai

Brimming with warmth and the ache of cherished memory, Scottish writer-director Charlotte Wells’ feature debut is a quiet revelation. Recalling a father–daughter journey to a Turkish seaside resort some 20 years after the fact, Aftersun employs the gentlest touch yet leaves an indelible mark.

Though Calum (Paul Mescal, Carmen) is 30 and his daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) just 11, they occasionally get mistaken for siblings. This is because of Calum’s baby face, but also his playful attitude: the pair really get along. Having split from Sophie’s mum, and having left their Edinburgh home for England, Calum knows how precious their time together is. 

Whether hanging by the pool, taking excursions on the sea, or shopping for carpets, Calum encourages Sophie’s abundant curiosity… until he doesn’t. Every now and then, with their Mini-DV camera in hand, Sophie makes enquiries that Calum won’t accommodate.

Fleeting glimpses of adult Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) remind us whose perspective animates Aftersun, something underlined by Wells’ elegant weave of Sophie’s DV footage and the film’s gorgeous 35mm imagery.

So much about Wells’ approach to sound and image feels intimate, yet never intrusive — the inner life of her characters remains mysterious without being portentous. In this regard, Aftersun is a showcase not only for Wells, but also for her actors. Corio’s Sophie is wondrously alert to everything going on around her, and Mescal, so memorable in his recent roles in The Lost Daughter and Normal People, is magnetic in his first big-screen lead. It won’t be his last.