Author Topic: Xavier Dolan - Wonderkin film maker  (Read 33261 times)

Offline southendmd

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #20 on: June 17, 2010, 10:19:28 pm »
J'ai tué ma mère

Hope people get to see this one.

Finally!  I'm seeing it tomorrow! It's showing at the Provincetown Film Festival!

Offline oilgun

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #21 on: June 18, 2010, 08:20:43 am »
^^^^Can't wait to hear your opinion.  Enjoy!^^^^


http://www.lesamoursimaginaires.com/

I saw his second film LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES (HEARTBEATS) last weekend and loved it!  Two friends competing for an object of desire's affection; unrequited love; who hasn't been there.  Portrayed with style, wit and affection. Gorgeously shot.  The film's tag line is Fuis-moi, je te suis  (Run from me, I'll follow)  :)

It won the prix Regards jeunes at Cannes and more recently the top prize at the Sydney Film Festival.

The object of their affection is played by Niels Schneider who reminded me of a blond Robert Pattinson:


Offline southendmd

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #22 on: June 19, 2010, 10:11:53 am »
While I liked much about "J'ai tué ma mère", ultimately the endless rapprochements between Hubert and maman got tedious.  Teen narcissism on parade!  François Arnaud as bf Antonin was very appealing, and provided a nice contrast.  Also, the boarding school friend Eric (played by Niels Schneider) had the best line to challenge Hubert:  what's your life about?  Mine's not about hating my mother; it's not about having a mother.

J't'aime, J't'haïs.  I love you, I hate you.  Rinse, repeat.


Offline oilgun

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #23 on: June 19, 2010, 02:13:22 pm »
While I liked much about "J'ai tué ma mère", ultimately the endless rapprochements between Hubert and maman got tedious.  Teen narcissism on parade!  François Arnaud as bf Antonin was very appealing, and provided a nice contrast.  Also, the boarding school friend Eric (played by Niels Schneider) had the best line to challenge Hubert:  what's your life about?  Mine's not about hating my mother; it's not about having a mother.

J't'aime, J't'haïs.  I love you, I hate you.  Rinse, repeat.



Harsh!  Middle-aged cynicism on parade?  ;) I agree about Francois Arnaud as Antonin,  it would have been nice to have more of him in the story.

Your expectations were probably too high after all the buzz the film received.  It's not a perfect film of course, but it certainly is a surprisingly good first film by such a young guy.  I mean you have to cut him some slack, he was 19 when he made it.

The actor who plays his mother, Anne Dorval, plays yet another mother in the second film, Niels Schnieder's. .  She's almost unrecognizable.  
« Last Edit: June 20, 2010, 12:21:36 pm by oilgun »

Offline southendmd

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #24 on: June 20, 2010, 12:43:57 am »
Ouch!  Anyway, my film-going companions (equally middle-aged) concurred.  BTW, we sat next to a vrai Québecois, who said that his mother told him to see the film!

I'll look for "Les amours imaginaires". 

Offline oilgun

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #25 on: June 20, 2010, 12:30:18 pm »
Ouch!  Anyway, my film-going companions (equally middle-aged) concurred.  BTW, we sat next to a vrai Québecois, who said that his mother told him to see the film!

I'll look for "Les amours imaginaires". 

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.  It seemed like a witty comeback and was meant as just a friendly dig (I had screwed up the 'wink' icon so I put it back).  It's possible I might be over-protective of our talented cutie.

Offline oilgun

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Re: Scoring a hat trick at Cannes - and nobody noticed
« Reply #26 on: October 09, 2010, 09:29:02 am »
LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES is a hit in France with 61 000 tickets sold after one week.


Louis Garrel , who had a surprise cameo at the end of Les Amours Imaginaires, will be the lead in Xavier Dolan's third film LAURENCE ANYWAYS which is set to shoot in 2011.  He will play a transexual and  Natalie Baye will play his mother.  These are two of France's biggest stars.


Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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http://www.towleroad.com/2011/02/movies-heartbeats-oscar-weekend.html#comments



Heartbeats
By NATHANIEL ROGERS
@nathanielr
The Film Experience
02/24/2011



Xavier Dolan, an out gay quintuple threat:
writer/director/actor/producer/wunderkind.



"The only truth is love beyond reason" goes the quote from French poet Alfred de Musset that opens Xavier Dolan's moody dreamy French Canadian film Heartbeats.  That sounds beautiful in theory, sure, but living it is messier. Immediately the film cuts to a funny frank series of talking head interviews from people who have been unlucky in love. One woman compares herself to Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction  and describes panicking at her computer, waiting for emails that never come.  "If somebody died every time I hit refresh, there'd be nobody left alive."

Poetic idealized notions of love clashing with humiliating darkly comic reality? It's a pretty apt way to introduce and describe this arguably slight but beautiful film in which best friends Marie (Monia Chokri) and Francis (Xavier Dolan) fall for angelic blond Nico (Niels Schneider) who they spot at a party. They feign disinterest for the other's benefit but they fall. Soon they're vying for his attention with gifts, sleepovers, and phonecalls. Is Nico interested in Marie or Francis? Both? Neither?





The casting works marvels: Dolan and Chokri, who are friends in real life, conjure deeply specific codependent-friends-who-irritate-each-other chemistry; Schneider plays Nico just blankly enough that it's easy to understand (or at least forgive) the mutual confusions. It's almost as if his golden curls absorb all fantasies and projections. To steal a phrase from Mean Girls...  'That's why his hair is so big. It's full of secrets!'

Some of their fantasies are visualized. At one point while Francis is eating his feelings, he imagines Nico serene under a shower of marshmallows. Viewers may that Dolan tricks up his movie too much: there are fantasy segments, color coded sex scenes, and a fondness for slo-mo that might even embarrass Wong Kar Wai. Even if Dolan's personal voice as a filmmaker is still forming (he's only 21) or a bit muffled by his inebriated declarations of love for the cinema, there's little doubt that he's gifted. One long slo-mo segment paired with the theatrically mournful pop classic "Bang Bang" features Marie and Francis over-primping, over-dressing, and tragically over-hoping for Nico's birthday party. Just as the slo-mo walking and fetishized color risks grating on your last nerve, Marie and Francis enter the party. Their song vanishes forced out by the party's own idea of a soundtrack: "Jump Around". This jarring transition from their drama queen headspace to the drunken messy reality of a party (delightfully bitchy) is both moving and funny if you're letting the movie's moods and observations about human behavior sink in. If you are, you can feign indifference all you want, but you'll fall. Bang Bang. The movie shoots you down.
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Sheriff Roland

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Xavier Dolan - Laurence Anyways Wins at TIFF
« Reply #28 on: September 19, 2012, 08:01:36 am »
He (finally) did it again.

After subdued receptions at Cannes and other international film festivals and a disappointing run in Québec's theatres, Xavier Dolan's latest film Laurence Anyways was named the best Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) earlier this week. In making the anouncement, much praise was poured on the film (like Brokeback Mountain, it's a different kind of love story) and Dolan himself was remarkably humble and at-a-lost-for-words by the honour.

In the past two years, the winner of TIFF's best Canadian film (they're always the Québecois ones, doncha know) has gone on to be submitted as the Canadian entry in the Academy Awards' foreign fillm category, and in both cases they have ended up among the final five. This year, a different film Rebelle (War Witch), a story about a child soldier in an unnamed African country, will be Canada’s entry for a best foreign-language film Oscar. After the anoucement, Dolan tweeted "L'exception confirme la règle". (not exactly sure what he meant by that tweet)

http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Xavier_Dolan_wins_TIFF_award-12539.aspx

Xavier Dolan wins TIFF award

Gay Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan may not have won a prize this year at Cannes, but his latest film, Laurence Anyways, was awarded Best Canadian Feature at the close of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Dolan recently spoke to Xtra about his disappointment that the film was not screened in a competitive category at Cannes.

Laurence Anyways is the story of a straight couple whose relationship is tested after Laurence, the male character, confesses to his girlfriend that he is trans.

Dolan chatted with Xtra on the TIFF red carpet. He said his character's transsexuality is a "secondary plot."

"I knew that my main focus would be love," says Dolan of the film, which clocks in at more than three hours.

2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

Offline Sason

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Re: Xavier Dolan - Wonderkin film maker
« Reply #29 on: September 19, 2012, 03:17:00 pm »
It got great reviews in my Swedish newspaper this weekend!

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre