After a brief aside, we are back on the Wheel of Destiny! This time the Wheel has selected Lukas Dhont’s sophomore feature film, Close. Close strikes its chords with tenderness and affection in a way that captures many emotional nuances in its understanding of childhood friendship and peer pressure.
Two 13-year-old boys who have been best friends throughout childhood see that relationship challenged as they begin secondary school in Belgium.
Whether or not this film was based on someone specific, it’s rather easy to see that Lukas Dhont’s sophomore feature is coming from a very personal place. It’s delicate, warm, and filled with love but that’s also why it’s as impactful as it is. His story digs into some childhood universals and hones in on what it’s like to start a new school and how our intrinsic desire to fit in governs our behavior. It’s also a contemporary film that focuses on the essentials like playing outdoors and riding bikes, instead of being dominated by screens.
In this script by Dhont and Angelo Tijssens, they are examining the boundaries of what “acceptable” friendship looks like and how something that’s perfectly fine outside of social pressures can be so easily taken down by a whisper. The catalyst, which is shown in the trailer, comes in the form of some inquisitive schoolgirls who imply that the two boys are in a same-sex relationship. What’s most interesting about the setup is that it’s not even coming from a place of malice, as we have seen in many American coming-of-age stories. As innocuous as the comment may have been in the girls’ eyes, it changes the way the boys (at least one of them) view their relationship with one another.
What I found most interesting about the narrative approach was that it wasn’t so much about the labels placed on these boys by others. There is, of course, some name-calling that you would expect from insecure children in this situation, but it’s never really the kind of aggressive bullying we’ve seen in other media. Instead, it’s really about how we define ourselves, the kinds of things we do to enforce those definitions, and how easy it is to turn out backs on ourselves and the things we genuinely care about.
Pardon me while I briefly detour into a personal example. I remember one of my birthdays (probably my 12th or 13th, so about the age of the boys in the film) was at a big virtual reality arcade with several kids from school. When it came time to open presents, one of my older sisters got me an Ultraman shirt, and I love Ultraman. I used to make her rent this janky-ass bootleg VHS mashup of the old TV show with a black-and-white xeroxed cover insert, over and over again. She’d watch it with me and sing along to one of the soundtrack songs that we certainly didn’t know the right words for. We had fun with it together. However, when I opened the box and pulled out the shirt, I felt embarrassed. At the time I couldn’t articulate it, but I didn’t know any other kids that grew up on Japanese Kaiju stuff and I didn’t want the kids at the party to look at me like that kind of nerd. So, I was very dismissive of the gift. And even though it wasn’t my intention to hurt her feelings, I know that I did. That’s probably why the memory has stayed with me. She reads my reviews on occasion so, if this happens to be one of them, please know that I regret doing that, I am sorry, and I love you. I did keep the shirt though and eventually warmed up to embracing it later on before handing it down to one of my younger sisters, but the point is that Dhont and Tijssens really nailed that particular awkwardness in this story.
Having the idea in place and writing a strong script for it is one part of the battle, but securing two young actors who could pull off both the simplicity of childhood summer and the complexity of a fractured relationship was not necessarily promised. However, these two performers elevated the idea to the point where we are talking about it as potentially the Best International Feature of the year and I am seriously considering their names for my Breakout Performer of the year award.
It was kind of hard to believe that this was Eden Dambrine’s first (and currently only) acting role. He just happened to be on the right train at the right time to run into Dhont and get cast in the lead. Life is weird that way, but perhaps it’s because of that freshness that his performance as Léo was so raw and authentic, but he was fantastic. Of the two boys, he was the one who had to grapple with what he was feeling and it’s through his actions that the story unfolds. It wasn’t an easy task for a first-timer but he was great.
This is also the first acting credit for Gustav De Waele who stars opposite Dambrine as Remi. He is the one who is responsible for carrying the emotional timbre of the film and there is a lot to shoulder. It is easy to see them having fun with one another as kids, but as the gap between them widens, it’s De Waele who shows the audience the pain of the situation. There’s one scene in particular where he really wears his heart on his sleeve and you can’t help but feel for him. You see that he does love his friend and whether or not that’s plutonic isn’t really the point.
There’s really only one other role of real significance and that’s Rémi’s mom, played by Émilie Dequenne. I don’t want to get into too much of the character specifics in case I end up giving away too much, but she has a lot on her plate as the only adult of note in the story.
Frank van den Eeden’s cinematography has a very warm screen presence and it’s a great-looking film. However, maybe the only criticism I have is that it gets a little self-indulgent in that space. The movie feels very pointed and concise for the vast majority, but it runs into extended lulls at awkward times. One of the farming scenes makes sense in context during the final act but there were too many of those dragging on for my liking and a surprising amount of hockey practice. The runtime is only 1h 45m but it felt long and an easy 15 minutes could have been plucked from this. There were maybe 8-10 people in the theater when I went to see it and the guy a few rows in front of me just decided to stretch out across a handful of seats and lay down. So, it wasn’t just me being a stickler.
Overall, a very compelling film and really an excellent sophomore effort from Dhont. This isn’t my favorite International Feature from 2022, but I see why it’s in the discussion. It deserves to be in there and it might even win.
Recommendation: See it for some great performances from a couple of promising young actors and for Dhont and Tijssens’ well-articulated messages about friendship, love, and tenderness.
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