This is the story of Pim, a quiet, reserved gay Belgian boy, from the age of about ten (my guess, although he may be as young as seven or eight) to 17. In some ways, it is yet another coming-out or coming-of-age story, but it is extraordinary in so many ways that I hesitate to put it in that or any other category. It is very beautiful (both esthetically and emotionally), extraordinarily well written, produced, photographed, directed and - especially - acted. It is so far above the typical gay movie in every measure of quality that it really belongs in a class all its own.
Telling what the movie is about does it a disservice, because - although even the story is not typical - HOW it tells the story is even more important than the story itself. It is a very well made and well acted movie that really must be seen to be appreciated, but since this seems to be the first review, I'll give it a shot.
Pim lives with his bawdy, busty, blonde, unmarried mother Yvette near the North Sea and the French border. She is a semi-professional singer and accordion-player who is not unkind but prefers partying to mothering. As a result of her haphazard parenting, Pim spends considerable time on his own, often sitting quietly at a table by himself in a seaside roadhouse named Texas (which gives the movie its title) while Yvette plays and parties with her friends. Yvette has a companion named Étienne who does not live with her but drives her to gigs in other towns, who tries to be friendly to Pim but whom Pim clearly dislikes.
The elements of coming out in this move are not related to Pim, who seems to take being gay for granted, even as a child, and never shows any discomfort or uncertainty about it at all. Both his mother and Marcella, the (also single) mother of his two friends Gino and Sabrina, accept him as he is, although Marcella cares for him more than his mother does.
Since Yvette is often away, Pim spends a lot of time at his friends' house - so much that Marcella treats him as if he is her own son, and Pim's most important relationship is with Gino.
Gino is three years older than Pim, and as Pim approaches his 15th and Gino his 18th birthday, they become lovers. Their love scenes together are extraordinary in not being salacious or stereotyped or stale or shocking in even the slightest degree. They are tender yet passionate and very, very beautiful; and I never once thought, "I've seen this before." In fact, I never thought that at any point in the movie; it was as if I were watching a movie about gay teenage love for the first time.
Gino is the one who has trouble coming out, and eventually he moves to Dunkirk to live with a French girl. (Except when the actor playing Pim changes, the passage of time is not clear in this movie; and when Pim and Gino next meet, the only way we know it's two years later is that Gino mentions that Pim will be 17 soon.) Pim is devastated that Gino has abandoned him with no warning. The entry of a young Gypsy named Zoltan distracts Pim from his grief momentarily, until it becomes obvious Zoltan prefers Yvette.
I'm making this wonderful movie sound trite and dull, so I'm going to quit trying to tell what it's about. In essence, it's about a gay boy who has a LOT more sense and inner strength and is a LOT more stable and self-aware than anybody around him, and how his strength and patience dramatically affect the course of his life.
As I said in the beginning, this movie is so good in so many ways that I could write pages about how good it is. But I will limit my praise to the actor who plays the older (14-17-year-old) Pim and the director who encouraged him to give such a strong, courageous, subtle but stunning performance.
I believe the actor (whose name is Jelle Florizoone) was around 15 when the movie was made, and although he had worked on TV a little, this seems to be his first movie. But that kid carried this whole movie (because Pim really IS the whole movie) as masterfully and as effortlessly as Brando carried On the Waterfront or A Streetcar Named Desire. He is amazing.
Fortunately for those of us who don't know Dutch, there isn't much dialog, so reading subtitles rarely distracts from watching the movie. But Florizoone is so good with his face and with his body that he really doesn't need words to tell us what's going on, any more than Brando did. It would be a beautiful performance from any actor at any age, but the fact that he's 15 years old (when even great child actors start to falter) makes it even more impressive.
I've learned not to predict future stardom for young actors who give extraordinarily powerful performances in gay movies, because it never happens. But if any teenager working in movies today deserves to become a big star, Jelle Florizoone does. And if any director deserves a chance to make any movie he wants to make any way he wants to make it, Bavo Defurne does.
Telling what the movie is about does it a disservice, because - although even the story is not typical - HOW it tells the story is even more important than the story itself. It is a very well made and well acted movie that really must be seen to be appreciated, but since this seems to be the first review, I'll give it a shot.
Pim lives with his bawdy, busty, blonde, unmarried mother Yvette near the North Sea and the French border. She is a semi-professional singer and accordion-player who is not unkind but prefers partying to mothering. As a result of her haphazard parenting, Pim spends considerable time on his own, often sitting quietly at a table by himself in a seaside roadhouse named Texas (which gives the movie its title) while Yvette plays and parties with her friends. Yvette has a companion named Étienne who does not live with her but drives her to gigs in other towns, who tries to be friendly to Pim but whom Pim clearly dislikes.
The elements of coming out in this move are not related to Pim, who seems to take being gay for granted, even as a child, and never shows any discomfort or uncertainty about it at all. Both his mother and Marcella, the (also single) mother of his two friends Gino and Sabrina, accept him as he is, although Marcella cares for him more than his mother does.
Since Yvette is often away, Pim spends a lot of time at his friends' house - so much that Marcella treats him as if he is her own son, and Pim's most important relationship is with Gino.
Gino is three years older than Pim, and as Pim approaches his 15th and Gino his 18th birthday, they become lovers. Their love scenes together are extraordinary in not being salacious or stereotyped or stale or shocking in even the slightest degree. They are tender yet passionate and very, very beautiful; and I never once thought, "I've seen this before." In fact, I never thought that at any point in the movie; it was as if I were watching a movie about gay teenage love for the first time.
Gino is the one who has trouble coming out, and eventually he moves to Dunkirk to live with a French girl. (Except when the actor playing Pim changes, the passage of time is not clear in this movie; and when Pim and Gino next meet, the only way we know it's two years later is that Gino mentions that Pim will be 17 soon.) Pim is devastated that Gino has abandoned him with no warning. The entry of a young Gypsy named Zoltan distracts Pim from his grief momentarily, until it becomes obvious Zoltan prefers Yvette.
I'm making this wonderful movie sound trite and dull, so I'm going to quit trying to tell what it's about. In essence, it's about a gay boy who has a LOT more sense and inner strength and is a LOT more stable and self-aware than anybody around him, and how his strength and patience dramatically affect the course of his life.
As I said in the beginning, this movie is so good in so many ways that I could write pages about how good it is. But I will limit my praise to the actor who plays the older (14-17-year-old) Pim and the director who encouraged him to give such a strong, courageous, subtle but stunning performance.
I believe the actor (whose name is Jelle Florizoone) was around 15 when the movie was made, and although he had worked on TV a little, this seems to be his first movie. But that kid carried this whole movie (because Pim really IS the whole movie) as masterfully and as effortlessly as Brando carried On the Waterfront or A Streetcar Named Desire. He is amazing.
Fortunately for those of us who don't know Dutch, there isn't much dialog, so reading subtitles rarely distracts from watching the movie. But Florizoone is so good with his face and with his body that he really doesn't need words to tell us what's going on, any more than Brando did. It would be a beautiful performance from any actor at any age, but the fact that he's 15 years old (when even great child actors start to falter) makes it even more impressive.
I've learned not to predict future stardom for young actors who give extraordinarily powerful performances in gay movies, because it never happens. But if any teenager working in movies today deserves to become a big star, Jelle Florizoone does. And if any director deserves a chance to make any movie he wants to make any way he wants to make it, Bavo Defurne does.