“Close”

(Belgium/Netherlands/France)

Letterboxd (2.5/5), Imdb.com (5/10)

I know I’m going to catch hell for this (and probably be accused of having ice water coursing through my veins), but, when it comes to writer-director Lukas Dhont’s Oscar-nominated second feature, I’m just not buying it. This overwrought, overhyped drama (and I do mean drama) explores what happens when an arguably vague schism occurs in the extremely (and I do mean extremely) close friendship between two teenage boys who bring wholly new meaning to the term “BFF.” I’m supposing the ambiguity of their intimate, though supposedly “platonic” relationship has been deliberately incorporated here to add another level of nuanced depth to the ostensibly thin narrative, but, considering how this overlong, needlessly stretched-out story unfolds, constant watch checking is not to be unexpected, no matter how serenely beautiful the cinematography is. It’s indeed disappointing to me how many other fine international film candidates were overlooked in the process of showering this offering with undeserved praise. “Dhont” say you weren’t warned.