Matthias & Maxime

Its hard not to be swept up by Matthias and Maxime. This is a film made with such love and care, sincerity and grace, showcasing everything that makes Xavier Dolan such an arresting filmmaker and distilled into their purest form. What made my heart soar was in how it laid bare how complex human relationships are, how pointless such binaries as gender and sexuality are, how love between two people is greater than simply defined as friendship or romance. Matthias and Maxime refuses to play into such simplistic categories, instead celebrating the wonder of love and human connection without the need for them. Maybe some viewers will try and pigeonhole the protagonists as gay rather than just two people in love to make themselves feel more comfo...

I was rather disappointed by this effort from Xavier Dolan. Perhaps writing/editting and starring in the film robbed him too much of objectivity when it came to actually watching this bit of a non-story. He portrays "Max", a young French-Canadian man who is about to emigrate to Australia. At a party with his childhood friends, he and handsome best pal Matt (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas) get lumbered with starring in a video being made by one of their number's pesky younger sister. The scene involved the two of them kissing - something neither had done (as an adult) with a man before. What ensues is a slow, deliberately so, depiction of the complications that this kiss has on their relationship. "Matt" has a long term girlfriend, so his reconci...