“Lukas Dhont follows his award-winning debut Girl with the story of two 13 year-old boys. One summer in rural Belgium, Rémi (Gustav De Waele) and Léo (Eden Dambrine) experience sheer, rapturous joy being in each other’s company. The images of the boys, supplied by Frank van den Eeden’s fluid cinematography, streaking along on their bikes through fields of flowers will stun and delight you. Once school starts, the prison walls of social convention start to close, with devastating effects. Dhont, working from a screenplay by Angelo Tijssens, achieves a balance of lyrical beauty and anguish that, impressively, manages to remain rooted in the mundane of everyday life. Though Close follows in the well-worn footsteps of the coming-of-age drama, it emerges as something visionary, authentic and new, thanks in part to Dambrine’s luminous performance as Léo.” -Larry Gross, Telluride Film Festival
Oscar-nominated for: Best International Feature
