If an upset is in the works, I wonder if Close, a simmering, painful movie about boyhood and friendship and love, might sneak away with the prize. A story about two 13-year-olds in the Belgian countryside whose close bond is tested by the cruel and homophobic dynamics of school, Close, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, comes from from director Lukas Dhont, whose first movie, Girl, about a transgender teenager, garnered raves as well as some controversy. This one too has proved divisive with some critics complaining about a plot turn midway through the movie that drastically changes the emotional stakes. Not me: I found it only elevated Dhont’s story into a drama of tragic proportions. Close is beautiful to look at and has moments of pure, piercing sadness that are impossible to shake. This one has recently opened in select theaters, and is expanding to more this weekend.
The Crowd-Pleaser: Argentina, 1985
Everyone loves a rousing courtroom drama, and until Aaron Sorkin serves us another, we should treat ourselves to this handsome and well-crafted morality tale from director Santiago Mitre, which is now streaming on Prime Video. Recounting the true-life court case against leaders of Argentina’s brutal military junta, Argentina, 1985 is a history lesson that benefits from the avuncular stylings of the prosecutor Julio Strassera, played by Ricardo Darín, who gives his character a natty dignity and offhand wit. Though set up to fail by the Argentinian government, Strassera recruits a gang of youthful legal aides and mounts an underdog case against the military elite that gains national attention. The film is not complicated—it is a David and Goliath story with moments of high melodrama—and yet the production design is wonderfully atmospheric and the testimonies of ordinary Argentinians who recount abductions, torture, and worse land with force. In Mitre’s capable hands, the outcome of the trial, while never in doubt, is nonetheless wreathed in suspense.
The One You Probably Haven’t Heard Of (But Will Love): The Quiet Girl
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