As the 75th Cannes Film Festival started to wind down, and where lots of festival goers were seen with their luggage staring at their mobile phones waiting for an Uber to the airport, Lukas Dhont’s film ‘Close’ premiered.
This is only the second film for the 30-year old who hails from Belgium (his first film ‘Girl’ debuted at Cannes in 2018 and won the the Caméra d’Or award, for best first feature film, as well as the Queer Palm. ‘Girl’ delicately told the story of a young trans girl slowly coming out to herself, her family, and her friends). It was a quiet masterpiece, and so is ‘Close.’
In ‘Close’ two 13-year old boys have formed a very strong, and close friendship, perhaps too close as they start getting teased and bullied at school. It’s gets to be too much so one of them decides it’s time to start hanging out with other boys, but the consequence changes their lives as well as the lives of their parents and all involved.
Gustav de Waele and Eden Dambrine give superb, and devastating, performances, and Dhont’s script (he co-wrote with Angelo Tijssens) will leave you in tears. There was not a dry eye in the house at the premiere where the film deservedly received a 20 minute standing ovation. In his speech once the clapping came to a stop, Dhont said that he had always wanted to do this film for all the friends he lost when he was younger, friends who could not be who they were. He also praised his two leading young stars, de Waele and Dambrine, for their magnificent performances. He could not be so right, they both were superb.
Congrats to the film ‘Joyland,’ featured in Cannes Diary 3 which won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard strand of the film festival. It also won the Long Metrage award in the Queer Palm competition of the festival. Look for more about ‘Joyland’ and also about a producer and co-star of the film in the next edition of FAB UK Magazine.
For a complete list of winners of the main prizes at the festival, please Click here
By Cem Kaplan