Movie Review: Close

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A truly beautiful and heartbreaking film from Belgium.

This film deals with complex and very unpleasant emotions and can often times simply be hard to watch. Yet there is an overwhelming beauty to how these subjects are handled that makes this film simply a must see. Much of what makes this work so well is how it is shown from the point of view of 13-year-old characters. These two teenage boys have a very close friendship that is truly beautiful, and the first scenes of this movie are so joyous that our hearts are immediately captured. Yet they are just setting us up for the heartbreak that is to come. Still if these early scene weren't so joyous then nothing that came after would work. As these boys go to school, many of the kids view them as a gay couple and many make jokes about it. One of the boys does not like this at all and avoids his best friend to escape it and prove that none of this is true. The other friend is obviously very hurt by this and the two drift far apart. One of the benefits from seeing it from the kids' point of view is that neither of them comes off as mean spirited. They are just kids and the one that is avoiding the other is not doing so out of any malice and doesn't fully understand the pain he is inflicting on the other. It also hurts because as much as we hate to admit it the majority of us has been one of these kids. We have either wanted to prove we were something other than what other people said we were or been deeply hurt by someone who was once a close friend now avoiding us. These pains are universal and sadly will always exist. These scenes at school often take a close look at boys (or men) feeling like they have to protect their own image of masculinity, even if it means hiding who they are and how society doesn't accept the same type of intimate relationships between male best friends as it does female best friends. This causes us to take a deep look inside of ourselves and at the world around us in a very thought-provoking way. About halfway through the movie there is a scene that changes everything. While I will not give anything away, this scene affected me like a punch in the gut and writing this review now, I am still not sure I have recovered yet. Just to let you know, you will shed tears, even if you are someone who normally doesn't cry at movies. 

This movie is not easy to watch by any means and there are many times it will hurt emotionally, but it is a beautiful and thought-provoking film that needs to be seen at least once.