Close (Film)
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 gets to be too much for one of them so he 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.
And ‘Close’ deservedly won (with ’Stars at Noon’) the Grand Prix Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
