Director Lukas Dhont is the new guest curator for Galerie, Indian Paintbrush’s digital film club.
Dhont, whose 2022 coming-of-age film “Close” was nominated for best international feature, names 18 films that influenced him the most for Galerie members.
Among the entries is the 1975 documentary “Grey Gardens.” “A teacher in film school showed us ‘Grey Gardens,’ he writes about the film, which tells the story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ eccentric and reclusive aunt, Edith “Big Edie” Ewing Bouvier Beale,” and cousin Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale. “I remember it made me doubt for a long time whether I wanted to continue in documentary because I saw so much of its possibilities realized in this film. The desire of being seen here is so beautifully captured. How we love to be actors sometimes.”
Also on his list are Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” “The Tree of Life” from Terrence Malick and “Shame,” Steve McQueen’s...
Dhont, whose 2022 coming-of-age film “Close” was nominated for best international feature, names 18 films that influenced him the most for Galerie members.
Among the entries is the 1975 documentary “Grey Gardens.” “A teacher in film school showed us ‘Grey Gardens,’ he writes about the film, which tells the story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ eccentric and reclusive aunt, Edith “Big Edie” Ewing Bouvier Beale,” and cousin Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale. “I remember it made me doubt for a long time whether I wanted to continue in documentary because I saw so much of its possibilities realized in this film. The desire of being seen here is so beautifully captured. How we love to be actors sometimes.”
Also on his list are Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” “The Tree of Life” from Terrence Malick and “Shame,” Steve McQueen’s...
- 12/4/2023
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Close.Heavy-handed and voyeuristic, Lukas Dhont’s first film, Girl (2018), deserved its share of backlash. Following the travails of a teenage transgender ballet dancer—played by cis-male actor Victor Polster, one of many controversial choices—Girl approaches its heroine with apparent empathy, but ultimately conflates trans identity with relentless physical and psychological carnage. “What could have been a thoughtful exploration of a difficult part of a trans girl’s daily life,” writes Hollywood Reporter critic Oliver Whitney, “instead uses her body as a site of trauma, inviting the audience to react with disgust.” Hyperbolizing the challenges of gender transition, a process that is by definition already dramatic, Girl exposes the dangers of representation from a vantage of ignorance. The film climaxes with a scene of self-castration via scissors—an unlikely act, not to mention a heedlessly cruel one. Five years later, Dhont’s second feature, Close (2022), averts these issues, in...
- 5/22/2023
- MUBI
Michelle Yeoh Photo Credit: Courtesy of A24
The 2023 Oscars will be handed out on March 12, 2023, honoring Hollywood’s picks for the best films of the past year with all the glitz and glam we expect. In keeping with another annual tradition, that of trying to predict the Oscar winners, here are our predictions for what/who will win, should win, and for some categories, who/what should have been nominated but was not. Rather than cover all categories, these predictions will focus on just some top ones.
Best Picture – 301 features were eligible for Academy Awards.
The nominees are:
All Quiet On The Western Front, Malte Grunert, Producer
Avatar: The Way Of Water, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
The Banshees Of Inisherin, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
Elvis, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniel Kwan,...
The 2023 Oscars will be handed out on March 12, 2023, honoring Hollywood’s picks for the best films of the past year with all the glitz and glam we expect. In keeping with another annual tradition, that of trying to predict the Oscar winners, here are our predictions for what/who will win, should win, and for some categories, who/what should have been nominated but was not. Rather than cover all categories, these predictions will focus on just some top ones.
Best Picture – 301 features were eligible for Academy Awards.
The nominees are:
All Quiet On The Western Front, Malte Grunert, Producer
Avatar: The Way Of Water, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
The Banshees Of Inisherin, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
Elvis, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniel Kwan,...
- 3/11/2023
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – It’s Oscar Week, as the 95th Academy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12th, 2023, on ABC-tv. Nominated for Best International Feature Film is “Close,” from Belgium and France. The writer and director of the film is Lukas Dhont, and he talked to HollywoodChicago.com.
The film involves two boys, Léo (the star making performance of Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele) best friends who are idling away the summer hours in love with life and their company with each other. After that magic summer, they both enter middle school, where their friendship is put under scrutiny by the alpha males. They question the nature of the boy’s togetherness, characterizing it as gay. This affects Léo the most, and nothing will the same afterward.
Writer/Director Lukas Dhont in Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium, and began...
The film involves two boys, Léo (the star making performance of Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele) best friends who are idling away the summer hours in love with life and their company with each other. After that magic summer, they both enter middle school, where their friendship is put under scrutiny by the alpha males. They question the nature of the boy’s togetherness, characterizing it as gay. This affects Léo the most, and nothing will the same afterward.
Writer/Director Lukas Dhont in Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium, and began...
- 3/8/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
From the moment it premiered in Cannes, where it won the Grand Prize, Lukas Dhont’s Close became a hot bet in the International Oscar race. Following his 2018 debut Girl, which focused on a transgender ballet dancer, Close is another poignant snapshot of youth, this time telling the story of a pre-teen boy and the guilt he feels when he grows apart from his emotionally troubled best friend. At just 31, the charismatic Belgian director is already a festival veteran and European arthouse poster boy; it seems to be only a matter of time before he breaks out into the world of commercial cinema.
Deadline: When did you first develop the idea for Close? Was it straight after Girl?
Lukas Dhont: When I went back to writing, after the whole journey of the first film, I realized that I wanted to make a companion piece to it, in the sense...
Deadline: When did you first develop the idea for Close? Was it straight after Girl?
Lukas Dhont: When I went back to writing, after the whole journey of the first film, I realized that I wanted to make a companion piece to it, in the sense...
- 3/6/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Channel 4’s ‘The Windsors’ To Return With King Charles Coronation Parody
Channel 4 Harry Enfield comedy The Windsors is to return after three years to parody King Charles’ Coronation later this year. Enfield’s King Charles character will take center stage as the UK’s first coronation in 70 years approaches. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are concentrating on life in California but pondering whether to fly over for the big day, while Prince William is focusing on the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. Produced by Noho Film & TV, The Windsors aired for three seasons on Channel 4 from 2016 to 2020. “Any channel worth its salt has a landmark show with the word coronation in the title,” said Joe Hullait, Channel 4 Comedy Commissioning Executive. “For the BBC it was the world’s first televised Coronation in 1953. For ITV it’s the world’s longest running soap Coronation Street. We at Channel 4 are delighted to announce...
Channel 4 Harry Enfield comedy The Windsors is to return after three years to parody King Charles’ Coronation later this year. Enfield’s King Charles character will take center stage as the UK’s first coronation in 70 years approaches. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are concentrating on life in California but pondering whether to fly over for the big day, while Prince William is focusing on the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. Produced by Noho Film & TV, The Windsors aired for three seasons on Channel 4 from 2016 to 2020. “Any channel worth its salt has a landmark show with the word coronation in the title,” said Joe Hullait, Channel 4 Comedy Commissioning Executive. “For the BBC it was the world’s first televised Coronation in 1953. For ITV it’s the world’s longest running soap Coronation Street. We at Channel 4 are delighted to announce...
- 3/6/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Oscar-nominated drama about two inseparable boys tragically driven apart is a low-key treat
A tale of childhood bonds broken lands a weighty emotional punch in writer-director Lukas Dhont’s Oscar-nominated second film, a heartbreaking coming-of-age picture that represents Belgium in the best international feature category feature category, and which shared the Grand Prix at Cannes last year. Astonishingly natural and engaging performances from young newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele lend heartfelt authenticity to a film that builds upon the promise of 2018’s Girl, confirming Dhont as a deft and empathetic chronicler of the tumultuous anguish and ecstasy of adolescence.
We meet Léo and Rémi on the cusp of their teenage years, approaching secondary school. Best friends, they are like two sides of a divided soul, locked together in a bubble of play-acting that can transform the world around them into a field of dreams.
A tale of childhood bonds broken lands a weighty emotional punch in writer-director Lukas Dhont’s Oscar-nominated second film, a heartbreaking coming-of-age picture that represents Belgium in the best international feature category feature category, and which shared the Grand Prix at Cannes last year. Astonishingly natural and engaging performances from young newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele lend heartfelt authenticity to a film that builds upon the promise of 2018’s Girl, confirming Dhont as a deft and empathetic chronicler of the tumultuous anguish and ecstasy of adolescence.
We meet Léo and Rémi on the cusp of their teenage years, approaching secondary school. Best friends, they are like two sides of a divided soul, locked together in a bubble of play-acting that can transform the world around them into a field of dreams.
- 3/5/2023
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
“Close” director Lukas Dhont’s discovery of one of his film’s stars, Eden Dambrine, is straight out of a book of Hollywood legends.
Dhont approached Dambrine on a train in their native Belgium and asked if he’d like to audition for his movie. “I was a bit worried,” Dambrine, 16, recalls. “I asked my friends to search on Google to see if it was really Lukas Dhont who was talking to me. It was so I felt a bit more safe.”
Fast forward to 2023, and “Close” is up for best international feature at the Oscars. The A24 film is a drama about 13-year-old best friends Leo, played by Eden, and Rémi (Gustav De Waele). Tragedy occurs when Leo begins to distance himself from Rémi after they become the target of school bullies who believe the boys are a couple.
I caught up with Dhont, Dambrine and De Waele at...
Dhont approached Dambrine on a train in their native Belgium and asked if he’d like to audition for his movie. “I was a bit worried,” Dambrine, 16, recalls. “I asked my friends to search on Google to see if it was really Lukas Dhont who was talking to me. It was so I felt a bit more safe.”
Fast forward to 2023, and “Close” is up for best international feature at the Oscars. The A24 film is a drama about 13-year-old best friends Leo, played by Eden, and Rémi (Gustav De Waele). Tragedy occurs when Leo begins to distance himself from Rémi after they become the target of school bullies who believe the boys are a couple.
I caught up with Dhont, Dambrine and De Waele at...
- 3/4/2023
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
It is a fascinating thing to watch someone’s history of protest and addiction collide and conspire to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable and expose its parent family as reprehensible. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles the renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her fight through the AIDS and opioid crisis, but this is bigger than a biographical documentary. Through slideshows, interviews, and family videos, Poitras weaves a riveting, heartbreaking interconnected story of generational pain, its influence over the blurry boundaries between life and art. – Jake K-s.
Where to Stream: VOD
Close (Lukas Dhont)
Dhont’s sophomore feature offers no narrative or stylistic fireworks, but it captures feelings so fine and true they...
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
It is a fascinating thing to watch someone’s history of protest and addiction collide and conspire to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable and expose its parent family as reprehensible. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles the renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her fight through the AIDS and opioid crisis, but this is bigger than a biographical documentary. Through slideshows, interviews, and family videos, Poitras weaves a riveting, heartbreaking interconnected story of generational pain, its influence over the blurry boundaries between life and art. – Jake K-s.
Where to Stream: VOD
Close (Lukas Dhont)
Dhont’s sophomore feature offers no narrative or stylistic fireworks, but it captures feelings so fine and true they...
- 3/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Is there anything sadder in a boy’s life than the moment they realise they have to become men? You often see it play out in real time, where a kind of free-wheeling innocence becomes corrupted by essentialist ideas of what a man needs to be. Sports are a must. Sensitivity is a problem. Touch another boy by all means, but only if it’s a macho thwack or a hearty backslap. Anything else is suspect.
Lukas Dhont’s Belgian drama Close – a Best International Film nominee at this month’s Oscars – makes great hay of these moments. We see 13-year-old Léo (Eden Dambrine) pushing away the head of his best friend Rémi (Gustav De Waele), who’s resting it lazily on his chest. We see their sharing of a bed at sleepovers suddenly become loaded with meaning, so Léo sleeps elsewhere. We see the panic that appears in Léo...
Lukas Dhont’s Belgian drama Close – a Best International Film nominee at this month’s Oscars – makes great hay of these moments. We see 13-year-old Léo (Eden Dambrine) pushing away the head of his best friend Rémi (Gustav De Waele), who’s resting it lazily on his chest. We see their sharing of a bed at sleepovers suddenly become loaded with meaning, so Léo sleeps elsewhere. We see the panic that appears in Léo...
- 3/2/2023
- by Adam White
- The Independent - Film
The cinema release schedule in March is, in two words, quite random.
Not only is there Scream 6, a horror sequel fast-tracked following the success of a fifth outing released just 13 months ago, but there’s 65, a post-apocalyptic dinosaur thriller fronted by Adam Driver, who’d be the first to admit he’s an unexpected choice for lead.
Elsewhere, there’s a sports comedy following four Tom Brady-obsessed NFL fans, played by screen titans Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field, a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation starring Hugh Grant, and a sequel to (checks notes) the DC film Shazam! – as we said: random.
Ti West’s X sequel, Pearl, will also finally be released in the UK, an inexplicable six months after it came out in America.
Then there is the below five films, which we believe sit top of the peak. Here are the five films...
Not only is there Scream 6, a horror sequel fast-tracked following the success of a fifth outing released just 13 months ago, but there’s 65, a post-apocalyptic dinosaur thriller fronted by Adam Driver, who’d be the first to admit he’s an unexpected choice for lead.
Elsewhere, there’s a sports comedy following four Tom Brady-obsessed NFL fans, played by screen titans Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field, a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation starring Hugh Grant, and a sequel to (checks notes) the DC film Shazam! – as we said: random.
Ti West’s X sequel, Pearl, will also finally be released in the UK, an inexplicable six months after it came out in America.
Then there is the below five films, which we believe sit top of the peak. Here are the five films...
- 3/1/2023
- by Jacob Stolworthy
- The Independent - Film
Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”
Ever since I broke the news that Michelle Yeoh is playing Madame Morrible in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies, she has been saying that the films will mark her singing debut. However, Yeoh’s biggest fans have posted videos on social media of her showing off her vocal chops while singing the theme song of her 1993 movie “Butterfly and Sword.”
Yeoh laughed when I brought it up at the Mandarin Oriental-hosted dinner in honor of her Oscar nomination for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “That was so many years ago in Taiwan,” she said. At the time, she asked the song’s lyricist to make things simple for her. “I said to him, ‘I don’t sing, and I don’t speak Mandarin. Can you please not have many words?’” Yeoh recalled. “But then the first time he showed me, I was like,...
Ever since I broke the news that Michelle Yeoh is playing Madame Morrible in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies, she has been saying that the films will mark her singing debut. However, Yeoh’s biggest fans have posted videos on social media of her showing off her vocal chops while singing the theme song of her 1993 movie “Butterfly and Sword.”
Yeoh laughed when I brought it up at the Mandarin Oriental-hosted dinner in honor of her Oscar nomination for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “That was so many years ago in Taiwan,” she said. At the time, she asked the song’s lyricist to make things simple for her. “I said to him, ‘I don’t sing, and I don’t speak Mandarin. Can you please not have many words?’” Yeoh recalled. “But then the first time he showed me, I was like,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Close,” one of the five nominees for Best International Feature at the upcoming 95th Oscars, written and directed by Lukas Dhont. In wide theater release in the U.S. beginning February 3rd.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Two boys, Léo (the star making performance of Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele) are best friends, idling away the summer hours in love with life and their company with each other. After that magic summer, they enter middle school, where their friendship is put under scrutiny by the alpha males, questioning the nature of their togetherness, characterizing it as gay. This affects Léo the most, and nothing will the same afterward.
”Close” opens in wide release on February 3rd, see local listings. Featuring Eden Dambrine, Gustav de Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens. Written and directed by Lukas Dhont. Rated “PG-13”
Click Here...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Two boys, Léo (the star making performance of Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele) are best friends, idling away the summer hours in love with life and their company with each other. After that magic summer, they enter middle school, where their friendship is put under scrutiny by the alpha males, questioning the nature of their togetherness, characterizing it as gay. This affects Léo the most, and nothing will the same afterward.
”Close” opens in wide release on February 3rd, see local listings. Featuring Eden Dambrine, Gustav de Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens. Written and directed by Lukas Dhont. Rated “PG-13”
Click Here...
- 2/5/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize (tied with Claire Denis) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with his sophomore feature, Lukas Dhont has cemented his status as a filmmaker who works in sorrow and a high Eq. Not unlike the enormous weight carried by the protagonist in his 2018 film debut Girl, the lead here is guilt stricken before becoming grief stricken. While there is compassion and a support system that surrounds the young Leo – his detachment and occasional bouts of silence are crippling. Featuring a fascinating turn by Émilie Dequenne and a break-out debut by non-actor Eden Dambrine who manages to add profundity to innocence lost, Close is about the type of non-descriptive wedge that creates a distance in friendship — one that is not only measured in inches but unannounced and forced disinterest.…...
- 2/2/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Chicago – When the 95th Academy Awards nominations were announced, one notable Best International Feature Film honoree was “Close,” a Belgium/Netherlands/France production that also won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The writer/director of the film is 31-year-old Lukas Dhont.
The film involves two boys, Léo (the star making performance of Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele) best friends who are idling away the summer hours in love with life and their company with each other. After that magic summer, they both enter middle school, where their friendship is put under scrutiny by the alpha males. They question the nature of the boy’s togetherness, characterizing it as gay. This affects Léo the most, and nothing will the same afterward.
Writer/Director Lukas Dhont in Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium, and began his career as...
The film involves two boys, Léo (the star making performance of Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele) best friends who are idling away the summer hours in love with life and their company with each other. After that magic summer, they both enter middle school, where their friendship is put under scrutiny by the alpha males. They question the nature of the boy’s togetherness, characterizing it as gay. This affects Léo the most, and nothing will the same afterward.
Writer/Director Lukas Dhont in Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium, and began his career as...
- 2/2/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Neon and Topic Studios present writer/director Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool at 1,835 theaters in a lively specialty weekend sandwiched between a new crop of Sundance films and noteworthy expansions in the glow of Oscar nominations.
Infinity Pool, staring Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman and Jalil Lespert, had a splashy debut last weekend in the Midnight section of just wrapped Sundance Film Festival. Skarsgard and Coleman are enjoying a perfect vacation at a beach getaway in the fictional state of Li Tolqa — until another tourist couple convinces them to venture outside the resort grounds, where they find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism and horror. Deadline review here.
A24 presents Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, just nominated for Best International Feature and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The drama follows Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele), two thirteen-year-old...
Infinity Pool, staring Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman and Jalil Lespert, had a splashy debut last weekend in the Midnight section of just wrapped Sundance Film Festival. Skarsgard and Coleman are enjoying a perfect vacation at a beach getaway in the fictional state of Li Tolqa — until another tourist couple convinces them to venture outside the resort grounds, where they find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism and horror. Deadline review here.
A24 presents Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, just nominated for Best International Feature and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The drama follows Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele), two thirteen-year-old...
- 1/27/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
This review originally ran May 26, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) are more than just friends and not at all lovers. At only 13 years of age, they’re too young for that – and what’s more, their bond transcends simple labels. First seen running through the lush meadows of rural Belgium, the duo share a complicity that is as natural and abundant as the late summer harvest. Nothing that pure could ever hope to last.
“Close,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, sees Belgium filmmaker Lukas Dhont (whose previous film, “Girl,” took home the Camera d’Or for best first feature in 2018) make his competition debut at age 31. A relative whippersnapper in this year’s (and most years without Xavier Dolan) Palme d’Or campaign, the rising Belgian filmmaker more than holds his own.
Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) are more than just friends and not at all lovers. At only 13 years of age, they’re too young for that – and what’s more, their bond transcends simple labels. First seen running through the lush meadows of rural Belgium, the duo share a complicity that is as natural and abundant as the late summer harvest. Nothing that pure could ever hope to last.
“Close,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, sees Belgium filmmaker Lukas Dhont (whose previous film, “Girl,” took home the Camera d’Or for best first feature in 2018) make his competition debut at age 31. A relative whippersnapper in this year’s (and most years without Xavier Dolan) Palme d’Or campaign, the rising Belgian filmmaker more than holds his own.
- 1/26/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Lukas Dhont was in the lobby of a Manhattan hotel on the morning that the Oscar nominations were announced. Being in a public place helped calm his nerves as he waited to find out if his gentle, observant movie “Close,” which has received acclaim since it won the runner-up Grand Jury Prize at last May’s Cannes Film Festival, would be nominated for Best International Film.
The news was very good. “I didn’t have a big night’s sleep, I must say,” the 31-year-old Belgian director told TheWrap. “It’s all a weird thing. You try to get as many people as you can to see your film, but then it’s also nerve-wracking, waiting to see if we got nominated. But from the moment I heard our film’s name, I jumped up and screamed a bit. I hope I didn’t scare anyone in the hotel.”
He added,...
The news was very good. “I didn’t have a big night’s sleep, I must say,” the 31-year-old Belgian director told TheWrap. “It’s all a weird thing. You try to get as many people as you can to see your film, but then it’s also nerve-wracking, waiting to see if we got nominated. But from the moment I heard our film’s name, I jumped up and screamed a bit. I hope I didn’t scare anyone in the hotel.”
He added,...
- 1/26/2023
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
With Oscar nomination voting beginning on Jan. 12, it’s not hard to figure out who the favorites are in most categories. (Here’s one rundown.) But for voters who want to look beyond the obvious picks — which should really mean all voters — TheWrap’s awards team would like to suggest a handful of our favorites that deserve a look before casting your ballots.
There are plenty of other deserving candidates out there, too, but here are 14 of our picks.
Emma Thompson, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” (Searchlight Pictures)
As a widowed teacher seeking fulfillment of a different sort in her retirement years, Thompson deflects any possibility of cliché with her inimitable dexterity as she gives a performance for the ages—supple and moving, easily stacked up next to her many acclaimed roles of the last 30 years. Just because she’s one of the...
There are plenty of other deserving candidates out there, too, but here are 14 of our picks.
Emma Thompson, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” (Searchlight Pictures)
As a widowed teacher seeking fulfillment of a different sort in her retirement years, Thompson deflects any possibility of cliché with her inimitable dexterity as she gives a performance for the ages—supple and moving, easily stacked up next to her many acclaimed roles of the last 30 years. Just because she’s one of the...
- 1/9/2023
- by TheWrap Staff
- The Wrap
Belgium’s Oscar© 2023 Submission for Best International Feature: ‘Close’ by Lukas DhontTipped for a top spot on the Oscar Nominated Best International Feature, ‘Close’, the second feature directed by the young Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont brings the innocence of youth into a confrontation with uneasy societal agreements about what is and what is not acceptable. Young boys are especially sensitive to their peers’ opinions and these two boys, friends forever, are suddenly put into a situation demanding a sense of oneself that they are still too young to have developed fully. When it premiered in Competition at Cannes, it received a 12-minute standing ovation, and shared the festival’s Grand Prix with Claire Denis’ ‘Stars At Noon’.
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys suddenly gets disrupted. Close stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as two thirteen year old boys, Léo and Rémi, whose tender friendship is tragically broken. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The delicacy with which the two young actors are handled speaks highly of the director Lucas Dhont.
The fragile bud of sexual awakening is a suject explored as well in his previous film, his 2018 debut, about a young transgender dancer. Girl was also handled with such gentle honesty that the subject to reveals itself to our eyes without destroying its integrity. Girl went on to win the Cannes Camera d’Or in Un Certain Regard in 2018. It also won Cannes’ Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard’s Best Actor award for Victor Polster as well as the Queer Palm.
Dhont is quoted as saying, “There are definitely echoes of Girl in Close, recurring themes, especially the violence involved in conforming to a certain norm, not being able to be oneself, being subjected to a certain vision of masculinity, and not being able to assert our fragility…I also wanted to talk about brutality. How it can wipe out such fragile, tender things, both in the world but also inside of us; how we cut flowers, how colours disappear, inside of us.” (Cineuropa.org)
Tangential to this blog, but relevent to the 2023 Oscar contenders, this dancer, in Girl, a female, could easily have been the male ballet dancer we meet in the Norwegian Oscar contender War Sailor. I will write more about that other tipped for the top film, but here I want to point out that both ballet dancers are confronted with the ignorance of others and are handled by their respective directors in a fashion that gives us a feeling of completion and satisfaction.
The screenplays for both were cowritten with Angelo Tijssens. “The film says a lot, but in few words; it’s more about gestures, looks and silences.
I find it’s a really complicated thing, writing dialogue! We try just as hard to convey what the character wants to say as what the viewer needs to understand. As a teen, I was pretty good at mime! I copied others’ movements and behaviours. I get a lot of inspiration from dance and the work of choreographers and dancers, who manage to express their emotions through their bodies and their movements. I decided very quickly that this was the language I wanted to use to launch myself into film: body language. Before wanting to become a director, I wanted to be a dancer. I feel like I’m trying to make some of this dancing dream come true through my cinematic language. Expressing what I want to express, without words.” (Cineuropa.org)
The Match Factory previously handled Girl as well as the film Close. During Cannes this year of Close, The Match Factory sold over 100 territories to Close, including North America to A24; Australia/ Nz to Madman; Baltics-a-One; Benelux-Lumiere; Czech Republic and Slovakia-Artcam; Ex-Yugo-mcf; France-Diaphana, Germany and Austria-Pandora; Greece-Ama; Israel-Lev; Italy-Lucky Red and Bim; Netherlands-Cassestte for theatrical, Vedette for TV; Poland-New Horizons; Romania-Bad Unicorn; Scandinavia-Future; So. Korea-Challan; Spain-Vertigo; Switzerland-Filmcoopi; Taiwan-Filmware; Thailand-Sahamangkolfilm; Turkey, UK, Ireland, Latam, Turkey, India-mubi.
Producers are Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-producers are France’s Diaphana who is also the French distributor, the Netherlands’ Topkapi Films and Belgium’s Versus Productions.
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys suddenly gets disrupted. Close stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as two thirteen year old boys, Léo and Rémi, whose tender friendship is tragically broken. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The delicacy with which the two young actors are handled speaks highly of the director Lucas Dhont.
The fragile bud of sexual awakening is a suject explored as well in his previous film, his 2018 debut, about a young transgender dancer. Girl was also handled with such gentle honesty that the subject to reveals itself to our eyes without destroying its integrity. Girl went on to win the Cannes Camera d’Or in Un Certain Regard in 2018. It also won Cannes’ Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard’s Best Actor award for Victor Polster as well as the Queer Palm.
Dhont is quoted as saying, “There are definitely echoes of Girl in Close, recurring themes, especially the violence involved in conforming to a certain norm, not being able to be oneself, being subjected to a certain vision of masculinity, and not being able to assert our fragility…I also wanted to talk about brutality. How it can wipe out such fragile, tender things, both in the world but also inside of us; how we cut flowers, how colours disappear, inside of us.” (Cineuropa.org)
Tangential to this blog, but relevent to the 2023 Oscar contenders, this dancer, in Girl, a female, could easily have been the male ballet dancer we meet in the Norwegian Oscar contender War Sailor. I will write more about that other tipped for the top film, but here I want to point out that both ballet dancers are confronted with the ignorance of others and are handled by their respective directors in a fashion that gives us a feeling of completion and satisfaction.
The screenplays for both were cowritten with Angelo Tijssens. “The film says a lot, but in few words; it’s more about gestures, looks and silences.
I find it’s a really complicated thing, writing dialogue! We try just as hard to convey what the character wants to say as what the viewer needs to understand. As a teen, I was pretty good at mime! I copied others’ movements and behaviours. I get a lot of inspiration from dance and the work of choreographers and dancers, who manage to express their emotions through their bodies and their movements. I decided very quickly that this was the language I wanted to use to launch myself into film: body language. Before wanting to become a director, I wanted to be a dancer. I feel like I’m trying to make some of this dancing dream come true through my cinematic language. Expressing what I want to express, without words.” (Cineuropa.org)
The Match Factory previously handled Girl as well as the film Close. During Cannes this year of Close, The Match Factory sold over 100 territories to Close, including North America to A24; Australia/ Nz to Madman; Baltics-a-One; Benelux-Lumiere; Czech Republic and Slovakia-Artcam; Ex-Yugo-mcf; France-Diaphana, Germany and Austria-Pandora; Greece-Ama; Israel-Lev; Italy-Lucky Red and Bim; Netherlands-Cassestte for theatrical, Vedette for TV; Poland-New Horizons; Romania-Bad Unicorn; Scandinavia-Future; So. Korea-Challan; Spain-Vertigo; Switzerland-Filmcoopi; Taiwan-Filmware; Thailand-Sahamangkolfilm; Turkey, UK, Ireland, Latam, Turkey, India-mubi.
Producers are Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-producers are France’s Diaphana who is also the French distributor, the Netherlands’ Topkapi Films and Belgium’s Versus Productions.
- 12/18/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Often, when embarking on the recent Variety tradition that is this feature — designed to highlight some of the year’s best yet least-Oscar-likely performances — one particular turn will emerge as the poster child. A performance that, for many reasons, really ought to have a shot at Oscar but, being in a language other than English, has little chance. This year, that slot goes to Vicky Krieps who, in Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” does not so much play Empress Elisabeth of Austria (a role previously defined by Romy Schneider in the saccharine “Sissi” trilogy) as entirely reimagine and reclaim her.
Rather like with Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Krieps has the kind of stateside profile that will help “Corsage” stay in the conversation for the best international feature film Oscar shortlist. But the odds of her getting an individual best actress nod remain far slimmer — a shame, given...
Rather like with Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Krieps has the kind of stateside profile that will help “Corsage” stay in the conversation for the best international feature film Oscar shortlist. But the odds of her getting an individual best actress nod remain far slimmer — a shame, given...
- 12/16/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Lukas Dhont had a complicated journey with his first feature. The Belgian filmmaker’s “Girl” won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018, secured distribution with Netflix, and became his country’s Oscar submission. In the months that followed, however, the movie was criticized for portraying a young trans experience from a cis male perspective, with a straight actor in the lead role and a violent ending that struck some viewers as exploitative. The backlash caught the young director off-guard and left him wondering how to proceed.
“We put our hearts and souls into it,” he said over coffee in New York this week. “It was really a process of learning for me. Those perspectives opened up a lot of my knowledge around how one innocent piece can be looked at from different ways.” At the same time, he was constantly getting asked what he would do next. “It was quite a challenge,...
“We put our hearts and souls into it,” he said over coffee in New York this week. “It was really a process of learning for me. Those perspectives opened up a lot of my knowledge around how one innocent piece can be looked at from different ways.” At the same time, he was constantly getting asked what he would do next. “It was quite a challenge,...
- 12/14/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Close Review — Close (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Lukas Dhont, written by Angelo Tijssens and Lukas Dhont and starring Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens and Marc Weiss. Filmmaker Lukas Dhont has crafted one of the most remarkable pictures of the year with the powerful film, Close, [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Close (2022): A Heartbreaking, Marvelously Acted Film That is One of the Best Movies of the Year...
Continue reading: Film Review: Close (2022): A Heartbreaking, Marvelously Acted Film That is One of the Best Movies of the Year...
- 12/13/2022
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
The 35th European Film Awards took place amid the uncanny beauty of Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. While it was possible to take a boat from the marina to gaze up at the aurora borealis dancing across the sky, the northern light on Saturday, December 10 came from Sweden and was named Ruben Östlund. The EFAs have a habit of decorating the same film across all major categories, so when his broad eat-the-rich satire “Triangle of Sadness” picked up an early award for Best European Director, it was clear which way the weather was going.
Östlund barely flinched when his name was announced as the winner in this early category — perhaps two Palme d’Ors in five years does that to a man. He first thanked the actress Sunnyi Melles (who was present) for her “great vomiting performance” and then had the grace to pay respects to Charlbi Dean, the South...
Östlund barely flinched when his name was announced as the winner in this early category — perhaps two Palme d’Ors in five years does that to a man. He first thanked the actress Sunnyi Melles (who was present) for her “great vomiting performance” and then had the grace to pay respects to Charlbi Dean, the South...
- 12/11/2022
- by Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund’s biting takedown of the one percent, was the big winner at the 35th European Film Awards, landing four trophies including the top prize of Best European Film at the gala award ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Saturday.
Östlund also won best screenplay and best director, dedicating his award to Triangle of Sadness star Charlbi Dean, who died following a sudden illness this summer, just months after the film premiered in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or. Croatian actor Zlatko Burić, who plays Dimitry, a Russian fertilizer magnate in Triangle of Sadness, was the surprise best actor winner, beating out contenders including Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Close breakout Eden Dambrine.
Vicky Krieps took actress honors for Corsage, a feminist period drama from director Marie Kreutzer, in which she stars as an Austrian empress who fights...
Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund’s biting takedown of the one percent, was the big winner at the 35th European Film Awards, landing four trophies including the top prize of Best European Film at the gala award ceremony in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Saturday.
Östlund also won best screenplay and best director, dedicating his award to Triangle of Sadness star Charlbi Dean, who died following a sudden illness this summer, just months after the film premiered in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or. Croatian actor Zlatko Burić, who plays Dimitry, a Russian fertilizer magnate in Triangle of Sadness, was the surprise best actor winner, beating out contenders including Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Close breakout Eden Dambrine.
Vicky Krieps took actress honors for Corsage, a feminist period drama from director Marie Kreutzer, in which she stars as an Austrian empress who fights...
- 12/10/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ruben Östlund’s latest satire, Triangle of Sadness, dominated the European Film Awards with four wins, including Best Film, the evening’s top prize.
Östlund also picked up the Best Screenplay and Best Director Awards for his work on the film, and Zlatko Burić nabbed Best Actor for his leading role.
The film, which picked up this year’s Palme d’Or, follows Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), a celebrity model couple who are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting to stay alive.
In other top prizes, Vicky Krieps won the Best Actress award for the well-received period drama Corsage, and the Javier Bardem starrer, The Good Boss, won Best Comedy.
The awards ceremony, overseen by the European Film Academy, took place...
Östlund also picked up the Best Screenplay and Best Director Awards for his work on the film, and Zlatko Burić nabbed Best Actor for his leading role.
The film, which picked up this year’s Palme d’Or, follows Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), a celebrity model couple who are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting to stay alive.
In other top prizes, Vicky Krieps won the Best Actress award for the well-received period drama Corsage, and the Javier Bardem starrer, The Good Boss, won Best Comedy.
The awards ceremony, overseen by the European Film Academy, took place...
- 12/10/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s a big weekend for awards watchers, with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association set to announce its annual film awards throughout the day on Sunday. But Americans aren’t the only ones having fun. The European Film Awards, which honor the best European-produced films of 2022, took place on Saturday at the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, Iceland. The awards are voted on by the European Film Academy, which currently has over 4,400 voting members.
The nominees were heavy on festival favorites, including Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” and other Cannes hits like Lukas Dhont’s “Close” and Ali Abbasi’s “Holy Spider.” Those films led the pack with four nominations a piece, though Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” is close behind with three nominations of its own. With several of those films trying to sneak into the Oscar conversation, Europe’s biggest award show is an...
The nominees were heavy on festival favorites, including Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” and other Cannes hits like Lukas Dhont’s “Close” and Ali Abbasi’s “Holy Spider.” Those films led the pack with four nominations a piece, though Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” is close behind with three nominations of its own. With several of those films trying to sneak into the Oscar conversation, Europe’s biggest award show is an...
- 12/10/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The 35th European Film Awards are underway at the Harpa concert hall in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík. The awards have been voted on by the 4,400 members of the European Film Academy. (Watch the ceremony here.)
“Close,” “Holy Spider” and “Triangle of Sadness” lead the nominations tally, with four apiece, followed by “Corsage” with three.
Icelandic actor, screenwriter and politician Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir and Icelandic artist, author and stand-up comedian Hugleikur Dagsson are the masters of ceremony at the event, which is being attended by around 1,200 guests.
Presenters during the evening include Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”), Italian actor Lorenzo Zurzolo (“Eo”), Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, German actor Nina Hoss, French-Algerian actor Dali Benssalah and German actor Albrecht Schuch.
Honorees include directors Marco Bellocchio, who will receive the award for European innovative storytelling, Elia Suleiman, the European achievement in world cinema award-winner, and Margarethe von Trotta,...
“Close,” “Holy Spider” and “Triangle of Sadness” lead the nominations tally, with four apiece, followed by “Corsage” with three.
Icelandic actor, screenwriter and politician Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir and Icelandic artist, author and stand-up comedian Hugleikur Dagsson are the masters of ceremony at the event, which is being attended by around 1,200 guests.
Presenters during the evening include Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”), Italian actor Lorenzo Zurzolo (“Eo”), Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, German actor Nina Hoss, French-Algerian actor Dali Benssalah and German actor Albrecht Schuch.
Honorees include directors Marco Bellocchio, who will receive the award for European innovative storytelling, Elia Suleiman, the European achievement in world cinema award-winner, and Margarethe von Trotta,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness was the big winner at the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), which took place today (December 10) in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
The class warfare comedy won best European film, director, screenwriter and actor, for Zlatko Burić.
Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.
Mantas Kvedaravičius’ Mariupolis 2 won the European documentary prize, whilst Alain Ughetto’s No Dogs Or Italians Allowed picked up the animated feature award.
Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss,...
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness was the big winner at the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), which took place today (December 10) in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
The class warfare comedy won best European film, director, screenwriter and actor, for Zlatko Burić.
Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.
Mantas Kvedaravičius’ Mariupolis 2 won the European documentary prize, whilst Alain Ughetto’s No Dogs Or Italians Allowed picked up the animated feature award.
Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
The Efa ceremony is taking place December 10 at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík.
The 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs) ceremony is taking place today (December 10) at 19.15 GMT in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
Screen will be posting the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates). The ceremony kicks off at 19.15 GMT.
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness is among the five titles up for the European film award, and is also competing in the director, actor (for Zlatko Burić) and screenwriter (Ostlund) categories.
Lukas Dhont’s...
The 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs) ceremony is taking place today (December 10) at 19.15 GMT in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
Screen will be posting the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates). The ceremony kicks off at 19.15 GMT.
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness is among the five titles up for the European film award, and is also competing in the director, actor (for Zlatko Burić) and screenwriter (Ostlund) categories.
Lukas Dhont’s...
- 12/10/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
A version of this story about “Close” first appeared in the International Race issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
The second film by Belgian director Lukas Dhont, “Close” focuses on a friendship between two 13-year-old boys (newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele) and a rift that divides them. The touching, delicate drama reduced the audiences to tears during its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Dhont received the Jury Prize.
Now the film has been selected as Belgium’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at this year’s Oscars. Belgium has been nominated seven times but has yet to win, a stat that could very well change with “Close” at next March’s awards. Some pundits have even speculated whether Dhont might land in the best director lineup – joining the six foreign-language filmmakers who have been nominated in the past four years.
The second film by Belgian director Lukas Dhont, “Close” focuses on a friendship between two 13-year-old boys (newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele) and a rift that divides them. The touching, delicate drama reduced the audiences to tears during its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Dhont received the Jury Prize.
Now the film has been selected as Belgium’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at this year’s Oscars. Belgium has been nominated seven times but has yet to win, a stat that could very well change with “Close” at next March’s awards. Some pundits have even speculated whether Dhont might land in the best director lineup – joining the six foreign-language filmmakers who have been nominated in the past four years.
- 11/30/2022
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
It seems to have been a year of good performances from young actors, from carefully calibrated turns from newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele in Lukas Dhont’s Close to Frankie Corio’s natural chemistry with older star Paul Mescal in Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun. At the top of the list you can put teenager Carla Quílez for her sometimes fierce, sometimes fragile performance at the heart of Pilar Palmero’s docufiction drama about the challenges of teenage motherhood.
Fourteen-year-old Carla (Quílez) is a handful. Riding like the wind on her bike alongside her mate (Jordan Angel Dumes) their idea of fun is to break into middle-class homes and trash the place. Years ago she might have been described as something of a latch-key kid, although she’s as likely to be told to make herself scarce by her mum Penelope (Angela Cervantes) as she is to be left home alone.
Fourteen-year-old Carla (Quílez) is a handful. Riding like the wind on her bike alongside her mate (Jordan Angel Dumes) their idea of fun is to break into middle-class homes and trash the place. Years ago she might have been described as something of a latch-key kid, although she’s as likely to be told to make herself scarce by her mum Penelope (Angela Cervantes) as she is to be left home alone.
- 11/21/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It is highly appropriate that a note during the credits from the director Lukas Dhont thanks “all the people around me during making Close” since this film is constructed around the idea of those who are near to us. Also, despite having a tragedy contained within it, this is chiefly a film about the importance of love and understanding.
Dhont’s drama - which shared Cannes’ Grand Prix with Claire Denis’ Stars At Noon this year - also celebrates childhood imagination. It’s that which is one of the shared joys of the friendship between Léo and Rémi (impressive newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele). It’s there in their games as they tackle life at the gallop, in their hopes for the future and in the stories Rémi sometimes tells his pal when he can’t sleep.
They are close in that easy way that comes from years of friendship despite being just.
Dhont’s drama - which shared Cannes’ Grand Prix with Claire Denis’ Stars At Noon this year - also celebrates childhood imagination. It’s that which is one of the shared joys of the friendship between Léo and Rémi (impressive newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele). It’s there in their games as they tackle life at the gallop, in their hopes for the future and in the stories Rémi sometimes tells his pal when he can’t sleep.
They are close in that easy way that comes from years of friendship despite being just.
- 11/18/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Georgia Oakley’s ‘Blue Jean’ won the audience award.
French cinema is this year the true winner at Seville European Film Festival (Seff), as France’s production companies are involved in the production of the eight main prizes at the Seville’s event which wrapped on Saturday.
Alice Diop’s first fiction feature Saint Omer adds Seville’s best feature award, the Golden Giraldillo to its brilliant career kicking off at Venice where it took the Silver Lion award.
The film has also been nomimated for France’s prestigiousLouis Delluc prize in both best feature and best debut categories and...
French cinema is this year the true winner at Seville European Film Festival (Seff), as France’s production companies are involved in the production of the eight main prizes at the Seville’s event which wrapped on Saturday.
Alice Diop’s first fiction feature Saint Omer adds Seville’s best feature award, the Golden Giraldillo to its brilliant career kicking off at Venice where it took the Silver Lion award.
The film has also been nomimated for France’s prestigiousLouis Delluc prize in both best feature and best debut categories and...
- 11/13/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
The 35th European Film Awards have officially unveiled this year’s nominations.
Lukas Dhont’s queer coming-of-age drama “Close,” Ali Abbasi’s serial-killer thriller “Holy Spider,” and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” lead the 2022 nominations, with each film garnering nods in top categories: Best European Film, Best Director, and Screenwriter.
Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” lands three nominations, including Best Actress for Vicky Krieps. “Alcarràs” has two nominations, while Venice Golden Lion winner “Saint Omer” picked up one nod for Best European Director for Alice Diop.
The European Film Academy hosts the award ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík.
German director Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with the European Lifetime Achievement award, and Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman is set to be celebrated with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award. Italian director Marco Bellocchio will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the limited series “Exterior Night.
Lukas Dhont’s queer coming-of-age drama “Close,” Ali Abbasi’s serial-killer thriller “Holy Spider,” and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” lead the 2022 nominations, with each film garnering nods in top categories: Best European Film, Best Director, and Screenwriter.
Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” lands three nominations, including Best Actress for Vicky Krieps. “Alcarràs” has two nominations, while Venice Golden Lion winner “Saint Omer” picked up one nod for Best European Director for Alice Diop.
The European Film Academy hosts the award ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík.
German director Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with the European Lifetime Achievement award, and Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman is set to be celebrated with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award. Italian director Marco Bellocchio will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the limited series “Exterior Night.
- 11/8/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
“Triangle of Sadness,” directed by Ruben Östlund, and “Holy Spider,” directed by Ali Abbasi, lead the European Film Awards nominations in major categories, alongside “Close,” directed by Lukas Dhont.
“Triangle of Sadness,” “Holy Spider,” “Alcarràs,” “Close” and “Corsage” vie for best European film.
Those contesting for best director are Dhont for “Close,” Marie Kreutzer for “Corsage,” Jerzy Skolimowski for “Eo,” Abbasi for “Holy Spider,” Alice Diop for “Saint Omer” and Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.”
Nominated for European Screenwriter are “Alcarràs” scribes Carla Simón and Arnau Vilaró, Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast,” Dhont and Angelo Tijssens for “Close,” Abbasi and Afshin Kamran Bahrami for “Holy Spider,” and Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.”
European Actress nominees are Vicky Krieps in “Corsage,” Zar Amir Ebrahimi in “Holy Spider,” Léa Seydoux in “One Fine Morning,” Penélope Cruz for “Parallel Mothers” and Meltem Kaptan in “Rabiye Kurnaz Vs.
“Triangle of Sadness,” “Holy Spider,” “Alcarràs,” “Close” and “Corsage” vie for best European film.
Those contesting for best director are Dhont for “Close,” Marie Kreutzer for “Corsage,” Jerzy Skolimowski for “Eo,” Abbasi for “Holy Spider,” Alice Diop for “Saint Omer” and Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.”
Nominated for European Screenwriter are “Alcarràs” scribes Carla Simón and Arnau Vilaró, Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast,” Dhont and Angelo Tijssens for “Close,” Abbasi and Afshin Kamran Bahrami for “Holy Spider,” and Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.”
European Actress nominees are Vicky Krieps in “Corsage,” Zar Amir Ebrahimi in “Holy Spider,” Léa Seydoux in “One Fine Morning,” Penélope Cruz for “Parallel Mothers” and Meltem Kaptan in “Rabiye Kurnaz Vs.
- 11/8/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Lukas Dhont’s Belgian coming-of-age drama Close, Ali Abbasi’s Persian-language crime thriller Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, are topping the nominations for the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), unveiled Tuesday.
Each of the acclaimed titles, which also happen to be Oscar contenders for the 2023 Academy Awards in the best international feature category, received Efa nominations for best European film, best director, best screenwriter and an acting category apiece.
Also in the running for the Efa for best European film are Alcarràs from Spain’s Carla Simón and Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s period drama Corsage.
The European honors are often viewed as a bellwether for the Oscars. Although last year’s Efa’s weren’t a particularly strong Oscars predictor, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World...
Lukas Dhont’s Belgian coming-of-age drama Close, Ali Abbasi’s Persian-language crime thriller Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, are topping the nominations for the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), unveiled Tuesday.
Each of the acclaimed titles, which also happen to be Oscar contenders for the 2023 Academy Awards in the best international feature category, received Efa nominations for best European film, best director, best screenwriter and an acting category apiece.
Also in the running for the Efa for best European film are Alcarràs from Spain’s Carla Simón and Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s period drama Corsage.
The European honors are often viewed as a bellwether for the Oscars. Although last year’s Efa’s weren’t a particularly strong Oscars predictor, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World...
- 11/8/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont’s Close, Danish director Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Ôstlund’s Triangle Of Sadness lead the nominations for the 35th European Film Awards, which were unveiled today.
The films have each made it into four categories including best European Film, Best Director and Screenwriter.
All three films debuted at Cannes this year, where Triangle Of Sadness clinched the Palme d’Or; Close, the Grand Prize (in ex-aequo with Claire Denis’s Stars At Noon); and Holy Spider, best actress for Zar Amir-Ebrahimi.
Close and Holy Spider are also the entries for their respective countries of Belgium and Denmark in the Academy Awards Best International Film category this year.
Further hot contenders include Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, with three nominations, including best actress for Vicky Krieps, and Berlinale Berlinale Golden Lion Alcarràs with two nominations. Venice 2022 Grand Jury and best first...
The films have each made it into four categories including best European Film, Best Director and Screenwriter.
All three films debuted at Cannes this year, where Triangle Of Sadness clinched the Palme d’Or; Close, the Grand Prize (in ex-aequo with Claire Denis’s Stars At Noon); and Holy Spider, best actress for Zar Amir-Ebrahimi.
Close and Holy Spider are also the entries for their respective countries of Belgium and Denmark in the Academy Awards Best International Film category this year.
Further hot contenders include Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, with three nominations, including best actress for Vicky Krieps, and Berlinale Berlinale Golden Lion Alcarràs with two nominations. Venice 2022 Grand Jury and best first...
- 11/8/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
’Alcarràs,’ ’Close,’ ’Corsage,’ ‘Holy Spider’ and ‘Triangle of Sadness’ shortlisted for European Film prize.
The European Film Academy has announced the nominees for the main categories of the European Film Awards, which takes place on December 10 in Reykjavík and will celebrate the best of European Film culture.
The five shortlisted films for the European Film award all have festival pedigree.
Swedish director Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle of Sadness, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is shortlisted, and is also nominated in three other categories: European director, European actor (for Zlatko Burić) and European...
The European Film Academy has announced the nominees for the main categories of the European Film Awards, which takes place on December 10 in Reykjavík and will celebrate the best of European Film culture.
The five shortlisted films for the European Film award all have festival pedigree.
Swedish director Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle of Sadness, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is shortlisted, and is also nominated in three other categories: European director, European actor (for Zlatko Burić) and European...
- 11/8/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
"You always wait for me, not this time." The Match Factory has debuted a second official trailer for Close, the second feature from filmmaker Lukas Dhont, his follow-up to the film Girl. This won the Grand Prix prize in Cannes, though it's still my top Palme d'Or pick from this year's selection. I really want to watch it again. The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi's mother. Close is an emotional film about friendship and responsibility. Starring Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as the boys, with Émilie Dequenne & Léa Drucker. One of my favorites from 2022, I wrote in my Cannes review that "it's a genuine work of art that exemplifies all of what cinema can & should be." A24 still hasn't set an official US release date, but it's Belgium's 2022 Oscar submission and should...
- 10/17/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
A24’s Close, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes, has picked up another accolade, capturing the jury prize for top narrative film at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
The 30th edition of the festival, which wraps this weekend, also gave the top documentary honor to Pray for Our Sinners, directed by Sinéad O’Shea.
Director Lukas Dhont’s Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The film is billed as an exploration of friendship and responsibility. The leading roles in Close are played by newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.
“Our team feels incredibly honoured to receive this year’s Hamptons Film Festival Jury Award,” Dhont said. “We want to thank the jury and...
The 30th edition of the festival, which wraps this weekend, also gave the top documentary honor to Pray for Our Sinners, directed by Sinéad O’Shea.
Director Lukas Dhont’s Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The film is billed as an exploration of friendship and responsibility. The leading roles in Close are played by newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.
“Our team feels incredibly honoured to receive this year’s Hamptons Film Festival Jury Award,” Dhont said. “We want to thank the jury and...
- 10/15/2022
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
The Woman King (Sony)
She Said (Universal)
Tár (Focus)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Major Threats
Till (Uar)
Close (A24)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
Good Night Oppy (Amazon)
The Whale (A24)
Empire of Light...
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
The Woman King (Sony)
She Said (Universal)
Tár (Focus)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Major Threats
Till (Uar)
Close (A24)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
Good Night Oppy (Amazon)
The Whale (A24)
Empire of Light...
- 10/4/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
The Woman King (Sony)
She Said (Universal)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Tár (Focus)
Major Threats
Till (Uar)
Close (A24)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
Good Night Oppy (Amazon)
Possibilities
The Whale (A...
Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
* * *
*Best Picture*
Frontrunners
The Fabelmans (Universal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
Women Talking (Uar)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
The Woman King (Sony)
She Said (Universal)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
Tár (Focus)
Major Threats
Till (Uar)
Close (A24)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
Good Night Oppy (Amazon)
Possibilities
The Whale (A...
- 9/27/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, which explores the fragile world of childhood bonds in his second feature, has been chosen by Belgium as its contender for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
The drama, starring Eden Dambrine and Gustave De Waele, won the Grand Prix trophy at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was one of the highest profile films in competition. Close sees main characters Léo and Rémi as 13-year-old best friends with a seemingly unbreakable bond that suddenly and tragically breaks apart.
Close is the follow-up for Dhont to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature in Cannes in 2018. That film portrayed a young trans woman who wants to dance on pointe with the other girls. Girl won another three Cannes trophies that year — the Fipresci film critics honor, the Un Certain Regard best performance trophy for lead Victor Polster,...
Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, which explores the fragile world of childhood bonds in his second feature, has been chosen by Belgium as its contender for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
The drama, starring Eden Dambrine and Gustave De Waele, won the Grand Prix trophy at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was one of the highest profile films in competition. Close sees main characters Léo and Rémi as 13-year-old best friends with a seemingly unbreakable bond that suddenly and tragically breaks apart.
Close is the follow-up for Dhont to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature in Cannes in 2018. That film portrayed a young trans woman who wants to dance on pointe with the other girls. Girl won another three Cannes trophies that year — the Fipresci film critics honor, the Un Certain Regard best performance trophy for lead Victor Polster,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Updated with trailer: Belgium has selected Lukas Dhont’s Cannes-winning title Close as its official submission to the International Oscar race this year. It debuted in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Prix in a tie with Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon.
Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The film is billed as an exploration of friendship and responsibility. The leading roles in Close are played by newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.
Dhont directed from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. Check out the trailer above.
Close was produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-produced by Diaphana, Topkapi Films and Versus Productions.
Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The film is billed as an exploration of friendship and responsibility. The leading roles in Close are played by newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.
Dhont directed from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. Check out the trailer above.
Close was produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-produced by Diaphana, Topkapi Films and Versus Productions.
- 9/16/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Film won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Close has been selected as Belgium’s entry for the international feature film category at the 95th Academy Awards.
Close stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as two boys whose tender friendship is tragically broken. After its Cannes premiere in Competition, it shared the festival’s Grand Prix with Claire Denis’ Stars At Noon.
Considered an early frontrunner to make the Oscar shortlist, Close was also selected as one of Screen critics’ top films from Cannes 2022.
Sales agent The Match Factory...
Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Close has been selected as Belgium’s entry for the international feature film category at the 95th Academy Awards.
Close stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as two boys whose tender friendship is tragically broken. After its Cannes premiere in Competition, it shared the festival’s Grand Prix with Claire Denis’ Stars At Noon.
Considered an early frontrunner to make the Oscar shortlist, Close was also selected as one of Screen critics’ top films from Cannes 2022.
Sales agent The Match Factory...
- 9/16/2022
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Close Trailer — Lukas Dhont‘s Close (2022) movie trailer has been released by A24. The Close trailer stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, and Léa Drucker. Crew Lukas Dhont and Angelo Tijssens wrote the screenplay for Close. “Produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens.” Post Close Movie Poster Plot Synopsis Close‘s plot synopsis: “The intense friendship between [...]
Continue reading: Close (2022) Movie Trailer: An Intense Friendship is Disrupted in Lukas Dhont’s Drama Film...
Continue reading: Close (2022) Movie Trailer: An Intense Friendship is Disrupted in Lukas Dhont’s Drama Film...
- 9/8/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
A24 has released a trailer for Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s second feature, the melancholy coming of age story Close. The film won the Grand Prix (shared with Claire Denis‘s Stars at Noon) at Cannes, four years after Dhont’s debut feature Girl won the Caméra d’Or and Queer Palm in 2018. Close follows two 13-year-old best friends, Léo and Rémi (Eden Dambrine and Gustav de Waele) who spent an idyllic summer strengthening their unique bond. When they arrive back at school, however, the two are harassed by classmates over the nature of their relationship. Embarrassed by these insults and accusations, Léo […]
The post Trailer Watch: Lukas Dhont’s Close first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Lukas Dhont’s Close first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 9/7/2022
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Any best picture lineup of any industry organization that does not include A24’s “Close,” Utopia’s “Holy Spider” and the doc “Sr.,” which is still seeking a distributor, shall be declared null and void…at least in my mind.
In Telluride, all three films played like gangbusters. “Holy Spider,” which premiered at Cannes and won best actress for Zar Amir Ebrahimi, is looking likely to be Denmark’s submission for international feature. Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei (played by Mehdi Bajestani), a serial killer who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran, the film tells a fictional account of a female journalist (Ebrahimi) who investigates the case.
The suspense thriller evokes “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) and “Dexter,” particularly the show’s sublime fourth, Trinity Killer-focused season. Both lead actors are worthy of Academy attention, and writer and director Ali Abbasi, who helmed the 2018 hit “Border,...
In Telluride, all three films played like gangbusters. “Holy Spider,” which premiered at Cannes and won best actress for Zar Amir Ebrahimi, is looking likely to be Denmark’s submission for international feature. Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei (played by Mehdi Bajestani), a serial killer who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran, the film tells a fictional account of a female journalist (Ebrahimi) who investigates the case.
The suspense thriller evokes “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) and “Dexter,” particularly the show’s sublime fourth, Trinity Killer-focused season. Both lead actors are worthy of Academy attention, and writer and director Ali Abbasi, who helmed the 2018 hit “Border,...
- 9/7/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
A24 has revealed a beautiful official US trailer for the acclaimed Belgian film titled Close, which originally premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It's the second feature from filmmaker Lukas Dhont, his follow-up to the film Girl, earning rave reviews and the Grand Prix prize in Cannes. Many critics thought it should've been the Palme d'Or winner in Cannes this year over the Ruben Ostlund film - I was one of them voicing this exact sentiment as well. An unforgettable story of friendship and growing up. The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi's mother. The film stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as the two boys, with Émilie Dequenne & Léa Drucker. I raved about this film in my Cannes review, proclaiming "it's a genuine work of art that exemplifies all...
- 9/7/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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