Friday, June 06, 2014

Love & Death at a Funeral

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The corn looks cold and wet - this Quebecois wilderness hangs heavy with constant damp - but don't you ever forget it's October and the stalks are sharp. They will cut you. And so too will Tom at the Farm, Xavier Dolan's fourth and best film to date. (No, I haven't seen Mommy yet.) Could be Tom plays more to my wheelhouse than what came from Dolan before (I figured as much going in) but the simplicity of this tale agrees with his style; his flourishes feel contained and purposeful here, where his earlier films, for all their entertainment (and I do like them all), often felt Ouroboros-istic (hell yeah I just made that word up) - starting at the center and eating outwards through the scenery and the past present future of cinema itself to make themselves known, with a capital everything.  

Tom at the Farm is like its titular setting - cut off from town, strange and violent, but self-sufficient. It can take care of its own. Tom/Xavier might want to liven it up a little bit by planting laser-guided milking machines on the property, but it won't take. It is what it is, terrifically. Sharp and haunting, under-your-skin particulars - sitting around the kitchen table cackling with grief, turned it over and around in your mouth. Spit or piss it out in long takes - the sound of cold, hollow splashing abounds, over-taking even those strings sometimes. Strings, sharp as the corn. Leaving marks. We will dance together inside the silos where we think nobody can see, nobody can know, and we'll still end up leaving marks all the same.

PS There's a picture I took of Monsieur Dolan at MoMA last night as he introduced the movie. This was my second time seeing him there - go read this post from last year circa Laurence Anyways.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I saw this movie last night and it was awesome and fully sexually charged. Thank you so much for introducing this great movie to me. The brother is steaming hot and I hope to see him in other films too. Love Dolan thanks to you.