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
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
Growing up is tough, we all know that, especially when you struggle to fit in. This scenario is often where young friendships can end because one party feels being accepted is better than keeping their friendship with someone who is an “outcast.” That very difficult decision to end a friendship because of your peers is the heart of A24’s new film, “Close.” The heartwrenching story about how devastating friendship breakups can be when you are young, especially when they’re one-sided, stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as Léo and Rémi, two thirteen-year-old boys.
Read More: ‘Close’ Is A Exquisite Tale Of Childhood Heartbreak [Cannes Review]
Léo and Rémi have just spent a beautiful summer together, forming a deep friendship.
Continue reading ‘Close’ Trailer: An Unlikely Friendship Is Formed By The Collapse of Another In Lukas Dhont’s Award-Winning Film at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘Close’ Is A Exquisite Tale Of Childhood Heartbreak [Cannes Review]
Léo and Rémi have just spent a beautiful summer together, forming a deep friendship.
Continue reading ‘Close’ Trailer: An Unlikely Friendship Is Formed By The Collapse of Another In Lukas Dhont’s Award-Winning Film at The Playlist.
- 9/7/2022
- by Jamie Rogers
- The Playlist
After staging a vastly scaled-down version in 2020, organizers of the Cannes Film Festival brought buzz back to the Croisette last year as the industry dipped its toes into the annual French gathering. As the 75th edition kicked off May 17, many in the business are all-in on the in-person experience and there are plenty of completed films for sale.
Mubi took an early lead in acquisitions, scooping up Léa Mysius’s sophomore film “The Five Devils” and Park Chan-wook’s mystery “Decision to Leave” in recent weeks. Other films arriving with distribution include Brett Morgen’s David Bowie doc “Moonage Daydream,” from Neon. A24 has five films premiering at Cannes, including Alex Garland’s “Men” and Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon.”
Still up for grabs are films like “Hunt,” the directorial debut of “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister.”
Below find a constantly updated...
Mubi took an early lead in acquisitions, scooping up Léa Mysius’s sophomore film “The Five Devils” and Park Chan-wook’s mystery “Decision to Leave” in recent weeks. Other films arriving with distribution include Brett Morgen’s David Bowie doc “Moonage Daydream,” from Neon. A24 has five films premiering at Cannes, including Alex Garland’s “Men” and Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon.”
Still up for grabs are films like “Hunt,” the directorial debut of “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister.”
Below find a constantly updated...
- 7/12/2022
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
We've all been there — a friendship so intense you feel like you could be siblings. Lukas Dhont's "Close" tells the tender story of Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele), two friends who share that inseparable bond you only make as children. A subtle Belgian drama, "Close" tells the heart-wrenching story of losing that connection. Léo and Rémi are inseparable, whether chasing each other through fields of chrysanthemum or sharing quieter moments when Remi plays his oboe. They hang out together, go to school together, and share a bond like no other. So, it's heart-achingly sad when the boundaries of their...
The post Close Review: A Devastating Look At The Loss Of Childhood Friendship [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.
The post Close Review: A Devastating Look At The Loss Of Childhood Friendship [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.
- 5/31/2022
- by Ryan Leston
- Slash Film
There is a dearth of films about what it means to lose a friendship. With a close friend at most mature stages of life, there is a sense of vibrant chemistry (if usually not intimacy), and also the feeling your bond with that person somehow defines who you are. Dan Sallitt’s under-seen Fourteen—about a friendship between two millennial women which commenced at that mid-adolescent age—has been one of the only recent films to broach this topic, and its slow-motion accretion of detail could be a lesson towards the subject of this very review.
Lukas Dhont’s Close, following up Girl from 2017, admirably attempts to delve into a friendship like this, with sensitivity and a rare gift of observation. Where it falters is an attempt to stir and batter the viewer with melodramatic plot turns and operatic emotion. This approach will likely please more of its audiences to come than others,...
Lukas Dhont’s Close, following up Girl from 2017, admirably attempts to delve into a friendship like this, with sensitivity and a rare gift of observation. Where it falters is an attempt to stir and batter the viewer with melodramatic plot turns and operatic emotion. This approach will likely please more of its audiences to come than others,...
- 5/31/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Grand Prix winner scores sales around the world.
The Match Factory has closed deals in around 100 territories for Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s drama Close, which won a grand prix at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (May 28).
In Europe, the feature has sold to Germany and Austria (Pandora), Baltics (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Artcam), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Ama Films), Poland (New Horizons), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Films) and Switzerland (Filmcoopi).
In Asia and the rest of the world, it has sold to South Korea (Challan), Taiwan (Filmware), Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm), and Australia and New Zealand (Madman).
Previously announced...
The Match Factory has closed deals in around 100 territories for Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s drama Close, which won a grand prix at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (May 28).
In Europe, the feature has sold to Germany and Austria (Pandora), Baltics (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Artcam), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Ama Films), Poland (New Horizons), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Films) and Switzerland (Filmcoopi).
In Asia and the rest of the world, it has sold to South Korea (Challan), Taiwan (Filmware), Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm), and Australia and New Zealand (Madman).
Previously announced...
- 5/30/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Lukas Dhont caused a bit of a stir when he was last in Cannes with Girl in the Un Certain Regard competition. Focussing on a teenage boy desperately unhappy in his own body and resorting to self-mutilation, the film and its director caught quite a bit of flak. This year, Dhont is in the main competition with Close, another story revolving around young teenage boys and likely to cause a bit of stir itself.
The film opens with scenes of bucolic loveliness as two 13-year-old boys, Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) play and frolic in the Belgian countryside, hiding out in old farm buildings as they create elaborate imaginary battles and racing through the fields of flowers grown by Léo’s parents. Their games and their intimacy – whether sharing a bed, lolling on top of one another, or laying a head on a shoulder – are about to...
The film opens with scenes of bucolic loveliness as two 13-year-old boys, Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) play and frolic in the Belgian countryside, hiding out in old farm buildings as they create elaborate imaginary battles and racing through the fields of flowers grown by Léo’s parents. Their games and their intimacy – whether sharing a bed, lolling on top of one another, or laying a head on a shoulder – are about to...
- 5/28/2022
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
As the Cannes Film Festival begins to wind down to its finale on Saturday night, “La Jauria” from Colombian director Andres Ramirez Pulido took the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, the festival’s sidebar focused on first and second feature films.
“La Jauria” centers on Eliú, a country boy, who is incarcerated́ in an experimental minors’ center in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest, for a crime he committed with his friend El Mono. Every day, the teenagers perform strenuous manual labour and intense group therapy. One day, El Mono is transferred to the same center and brings with him a past that Eliú is trying to get away from.
The film, which comes from Colombia, also took the the Sacd prize.
“War Pony” wins Palm Dog Award
Brit the Silver Poodle, who stars in Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s indigenous drama “War Pony,” took home the coveted Palm Dog collar,...
“La Jauria” centers on Eliú, a country boy, who is incarcerated́ in an experimental minors’ center in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest, for a crime he committed with his friend El Mono. Every day, the teenagers perform strenuous manual labour and intense group therapy. One day, El Mono is transferred to the same center and brings with him a past that Eliú is trying to get away from.
The film, which comes from Colombia, also took the the Sacd prize.
“War Pony” wins Palm Dog Award
Brit the Silver Poodle, who stars in Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s indigenous drama “War Pony,” took home the coveted Palm Dog collar,...
- 5/27/2022
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
When two 13-year-olds are no longer close, the fallout is unbearably sad, in Lukas Dhont’s anguished second feature
Belgian film-maker Lukas Dhont found praise and then a backlash of criticism in 2018 for his debut feature, Girl, the story of a young transgender woman auditioning for ballet school, which some found to be inauthentic, and an unwarranted fetishisation of a trans person’s body. It could well be that he will get more criticism for this new film on the grounds that the unselfconscious love and friendship between two 13-year-old boys is being catastrophised and problematised.
I admit there are times when Dhont goes straight for the deafening minor chords of anguish. But there are two excellent performances from newcomers Gustav De Waele and Eden Dambrine as Rémi and Léo, and also valuable appearances from the actors playing their mothers: Sophie and Nathalie (Léa Drucker). Rémi and Léo are inseparable,...
Belgian film-maker Lukas Dhont found praise and then a backlash of criticism in 2018 for his debut feature, Girl, the story of a young transgender woman auditioning for ballet school, which some found to be inauthentic, and an unwarranted fetishisation of a trans person’s body. It could well be that he will get more criticism for this new film on the grounds that the unselfconscious love and friendship between two 13-year-old boys is being catastrophised and problematised.
I admit there are times when Dhont goes straight for the deafening minor chords of anguish. But there are two excellent performances from newcomers Gustav De Waele and Eden Dambrine as Rémi and Léo, and also valuable appearances from the actors playing their mothers: Sophie and Nathalie (Léa Drucker). Rémi and Léo are inseparable,...
- 5/27/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
After taking home the Un Certain Regard Fipresci prize in 2018 for the trans-female ballet dancer feature Girl, filmmaker Lukas Dhont returned to home to find himself staring at the blank page for his next project.
That would ultimately be this year’s in competition movie, Close, which grapples with teen suicide and has a lot of buzz on the ground that it could take the Palme d’Or. A24 announced the stateside pick-up of Close last night on the pic’s premiere here on the Croisette.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do, I had all sorts of proposals,” the Belgian director said during Close‘s Cannes Film Festival conference this morning. “I had a lot of doubts, I was racked by my doubts.”
“I was much more aware of myself, and I knew a lot of people looked at me,” Dhont explained, “I wanted to do...
That would ultimately be this year’s in competition movie, Close, which grapples with teen suicide and has a lot of buzz on the ground that it could take the Palme d’Or. A24 announced the stateside pick-up of Close last night on the pic’s premiere here on the Croisette.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do, I had all sorts of proposals,” the Belgian director said during Close‘s Cannes Film Festival conference this morning. “I had a lot of doubts, I was racked by my doubts.”
“I was much more aware of myself, and I knew a lot of people looked at me,” Dhont explained, “I wanted to do...
- 5/27/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Cannes – Lukas Dhont’s second feature, “Close,” starts off where most love stories end, and, in that respect, it begins with almost euphoric joy. Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) are the best of friends. They play imaginary games in the forest and chase each other through the flower fields of Leo’s family farm. They are probably on the cusp of thinking such things are too childish, but not just yet.
Continue reading ‘Close’ Is A Exquisite Tale Of Childhood Heartbreak [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Close’ Is A Exquisite Tale Of Childhood Heartbreak [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
- 5/26/2022
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
Belgium’s Lukas Dhont takes a deserved step up to the Cannes Film Festival competition with Close, only his second film — a minimalist melodrama that shows a definite growth in visual style but may be confronting to some with its deliberately unhurried, Eric Rohmer-esque aesthetic. The international success of Dhont’s well-intentioned debut Girl, about a young trans-female ballet dancer, was somewhat blunted in the U.S., where G.L.A.A.D. amplified complaints of misrepresentation on behalf of the trans lobby. Close is a much safer proposition, but may yet sail into choppy waters with its themes of youth suicide.
Most certainly mined from personal experience, it stars newcomer Eden Dambrine as Léo, a 13-year-old boy who lives in a rustic idyll with his best friend Rémi (Gustav De Waele). Léo’s family runs a flower farm, and flowers are a constant motif throughout, whether growing, blooming, being threshed,...
Most certainly mined from personal experience, it stars newcomer Eden Dambrine as Léo, a 13-year-old boy who lives in a rustic idyll with his best friend Rémi (Gustav De Waele). Léo’s family runs a flower farm, and flowers are a constant motif throughout, whether growing, blooming, being threshed,...
- 5/26/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Thirteen-year-old best friends Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) don’t know it yet, but this will be the last perfect summer of their lives. It’ll be the last summer when they share the same imagination, love each other without having to think about what it means, and run or bike everywhere as fast as they can so as not to waste a minute of it.
The clock is ticking. Even now, there are already intimations that Leo — his cherubic face as clear as Caribbean ocean water — occasionally seems to be on the cusp of some deeper awareness; after calming his friend’s busy head to sleep at night, Leo lies awake in the bed they share together and searches Remi’s face for hints to a puzzle that hasn’t presented itself to him yet.
When school starts, their classmates will snicker at the boys for being too close.
The clock is ticking. Even now, there are already intimations that Leo — his cherubic face as clear as Caribbean ocean water — occasionally seems to be on the cusp of some deeper awareness; after calming his friend’s busy head to sleep at night, Leo lies awake in the bed they share together and searches Remi’s face for hints to a puzzle that hasn’t presented itself to him yet.
When school starts, their classmates will snicker at the boys for being too close.
- 5/26/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Spoiler Alert: The penultimate paragraph of this review contains spoilers.
Few of us are fortunate enough to have a friendship as intimate and effortless as the one shared by 13-year-old Belgian boys Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) in “Close.” That connection, and the responsibility that comes with it, is at the heart of Lukas Dhont’s sophomore feature, so subtle and sensitive in the first half, so devastatingly false from its tragic twist on. This beautifully evocative film, which hails from an openly queer director, offers as pure a portrait of innocent, innocuous same-sex affection as we’ve ever encountered on film. And then it becomes something incredibly, unwelcomely different.
“Close” marks an auspicious return to the Cannes Film Festival for Dhont, whose 2018 Camera d’Or-winning debut, “Girl,” was simultaneously ahead of and behind the cultural conversation about trans youth. That remarkable first film dramatized the journey...
Few of us are fortunate enough to have a friendship as intimate and effortless as the one shared by 13-year-old Belgian boys Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) in “Close.” That connection, and the responsibility that comes with it, is at the heart of Lukas Dhont’s sophomore feature, so subtle and sensitive in the first half, so devastatingly false from its tragic twist on. This beautifully evocative film, which hails from an openly queer director, offers as pure a portrait of innocent, innocuous same-sex affection as we’ve ever encountered on film. And then it becomes something incredibly, unwelcomely different.
“Close” marks an auspicious return to the Cannes Film Festival for Dhont, whose 2018 Camera d’Or-winning debut, “Girl,” was simultaneously ahead of and behind the cultural conversation about trans youth. That remarkable first film dramatized the journey...
- 5/26/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Baz Luhrmann has left the building. More than Tom Cruise, Kristen Stewart or Tilda Swinton, the biggest star to rock Cannes this year may have been “Elvis” and its breakout lead actor Austin Butler.
“Elvis” was greeted by the Cannes audience with a 12-minute standing ovation following its premiere, and the festivities surrounding it were astonishing. That included a performance from Italian Eurovision winners Måneskin and some drones that performed some gorgeous acrobatic light shows in the night sky.
Butler too could be seen crying thanks to the film’s reception, and the buzz around him has been special, with many talking early Oscar love and that he’s an instant star. “I basically put the rest of my life on pause for two years, and I just absorbed everything I possibly could, and I went down the rabbit hole of obsession,” Butler said during Thursday’s press conference. “That’s the tricky thing,...
“Elvis” was greeted by the Cannes audience with a 12-minute standing ovation following its premiere, and the festivities surrounding it were astonishing. That included a performance from Italian Eurovision winners Måneskin and some drones that performed some gorgeous acrobatic light shows in the night sky.
Butler too could be seen crying thanks to the film’s reception, and the buzz around him has been special, with many talking early Oscar love and that he’s an instant star. “I basically put the rest of my life on pause for two years, and I just absorbed everything I possibly could, and I went down the rabbit hole of obsession,” Butler said during Thursday’s press conference. “That’s the tricky thing,...
- 5/26/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Lukas Dhont’s film screens in competiton at the Cannes festival.
A24 has acquired North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close, which gets its world premiere today (May 26) in competition at the Cannes festival.
Directed by Dhont from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens, the drama about a friendship between two 13-year-old boys stars newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Also in the cast are Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.
Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens produced the film for Menuet and Diaphana, and Topkapi Films and Versus Productions were co-producers.
A24 has acquired North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close, which gets its world premiere today (May 26) in competition at the Cannes festival.
Directed by Dhont from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens, the drama about a friendship between two 13-year-old boys stars newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Also in the cast are Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.
Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens produced the film for Menuet and Diaphana, and Topkapi Films and Versus Productions were co-producers.
- 5/26/2022
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
A24 has picked up North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close.
The movie is making its world premiere tonight in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
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 (Émilie Dequenne), Rémi’s mother. 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. Close was produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-produced by Diaphana, Topkapi Films and Versus Productions.
Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competition Drama ‘Close’ Sells To Mubi For UK/Ire, LatAm, Turkey & India
Dhont’s debut film Girl won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festival’s Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain...
The movie is making its world premiere tonight in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
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 (Émilie Dequenne), Rémi’s mother. 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. Close was produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-produced by Diaphana, Topkapi Films and Versus Productions.
Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competition Drama ‘Close’ Sells To Mubi For UK/Ire, LatAm, Turkey & India
Dhont’s debut film Girl won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festival’s Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain...
- 5/26/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Global streamer and distributor Mubi has struck again, this time snapping up select markets for Lukas Dhont’s keenly anticipated “Close.”
Mubi has acquired the U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India for the Cannes competition title, which will have its world premiere on Thursday at the festival.
The film stars Lea Drucker, Émilie Dequenne, Kevin Janssens and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. “Close” will be released theatrically followed by an exclusive Mubi streaming release.
“Girl,” Dhont’s debut feature film, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festivals’ Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard best performance award for Victor Polster. “Girl” also received a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign language film and won prizes at San Sebastian, Zurich and best first feature film at the BFI London Film Festival.
The film is produced by Dirk Impens and...
Mubi has acquired the U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India for the Cannes competition title, which will have its world premiere on Thursday at the festival.
The film stars Lea Drucker, Émilie Dequenne, Kevin Janssens and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. “Close” will be released theatrically followed by an exclusive Mubi streaming release.
“Girl,” Dhont’s debut feature film, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festivals’ Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard best performance award for Victor Polster. “Girl” also received a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign language film and won prizes at San Sebastian, Zurich and best first feature film at the BFI London Film Festival.
The film is produced by Dirk Impens and...
- 5/26/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Mubi has acquired Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competion entry Close for the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.
Starring Lea Drucker (Custody), Émilie Dequenne (Our Children), Kevin Janssens (Revenge) and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele, the film will get its world premiere on the Riviera this week.
In Close, the intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother.
The film will be released theatrically followed by an exclusive Mubi streaming release. The Match Factory is handling international sales and negotiated the deal with Mubi, its parent company.
Pic is produced by Dirk Impens and Michiel Dhont for Menuet (Be) and co-produced by Diaphana (Fr), Topkapi Films (Nl) and Versus Productions (Be).
Dhont said: “I am incredibly honored to share this film and start this collaboration with Mubi.”
Girl, Dhont’s debut feature film,...
Starring Lea Drucker (Custody), Émilie Dequenne (Our Children), Kevin Janssens (Revenge) and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele, the film will get its world premiere on the Riviera this week.
In Close, the intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother.
The film will be released theatrically followed by an exclusive Mubi streaming release. The Match Factory is handling international sales and negotiated the deal with Mubi, its parent company.
Pic is produced by Dirk Impens and Michiel Dhont for Menuet (Be) and co-produced by Diaphana (Fr), Topkapi Films (Nl) and Versus Productions (Be).
Dhont said: “I am incredibly honored to share this film and start this collaboration with Mubi.”
Girl, Dhont’s debut feature film,...
- 5/26/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont made a splash at Cannes with his first feature, the 2018 transgender ballet drama “Girl.” The film picked up the coveted Camera d’Or award for best debut feature, along with the Queer Palm for best LGBTQ film and a number of other accolades (and controversy). So expectations were inevitably high for his second film, “Close,” which premieres in competition at the festival this week.
The film, which tells the story of two boys developing an intimate childhood friendship, was directed by Dhont from a script he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. It stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Emilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.
The official synopsis for “Close” reads: “The intense friendship between two 13-year-old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Leo approaches Sophie, Remi’s mother. ‘Close’ is a film about friendship and responsibility.
The film, which tells the story of two boys developing an intimate childhood friendship, was directed by Dhont from a script he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. It stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Emilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.
The official synopsis for “Close” reads: “The intense friendship between two 13-year-old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Leo approaches Sophie, Remi’s mother. ‘Close’ is a film about friendship and responsibility.
- 5/22/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Exclusive: On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, Competition title Close has sold to Lucky Red for Italy, Vertigo Films for Spain and Lev Cinemas for Israel.
The Match Factory is handling sales on Lukas Dhont’s second feature, about how an intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys is unexpectedly disrupted.
Pic is produced by Dirk Impens and Michiel Dhont for Menuet (Be) and co-produced by Diaphana (Fr), Topkapi Films (Nl) and Versus Productions (Be). Diaphana will release in France.
Cast includes newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as well as established European actors Lea Drucker, Emilie Duquenne and Kevin Janssens.
Dhont’s debut Girl, the transgender dancer drama, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festivals’ Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard Best Actor award for Victor Polster before securing a Golden Globe nomination and prizes at San Sebastian and Zurich.
The Match Factory is handling sales on Lukas Dhont’s second feature, about how an intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys is unexpectedly disrupted.
Pic is produced by Dirk Impens and Michiel Dhont for Menuet (Be) and co-produced by Diaphana (Fr), Topkapi Films (Nl) and Versus Productions (Be). Diaphana will release in France.
Cast includes newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as well as established European actors Lea Drucker, Emilie Duquenne and Kevin Janssens.
Dhont’s debut Girl, the transgender dancer drama, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festivals’ Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard Best Actor award for Victor Polster before securing a Golden Globe nomination and prizes at San Sebastian and Zurich.
- 5/16/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
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