Eden Dambrine

Teenagers are works in progress, testing their values, struggling with decisions, all impacting their evolving identity. In their development, constructive or negative peer reactions matter immensely. Navigating all this, plus repressive gender constraints, lies at the heart of Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, focused on thirteen-year-olds Léo and Rémi, enjoying their warm, exuberant friendship in rural Belgium.

Belgium’s International Oscar submission, Close, tells the story of two young boys who enjoy an exceptionally close relationship. Their fondness manifests in a level of physical comfort which prompts classmates to ask whether they’re “together.” The line of questioning, and some homophobic teasing that follows, motivates one of the boys to push the other away and seek alternative friendships and involvement in ostensibly more masculine activities. The break leads to tragedy.

In Lukas Dhont’s tender and tragic coming of age story, it’s best if you go into the movie knowing very little about it, letting each new development sink in until the film reaches its resolution, and you’re left with an experience that spoke to your very core. Suffice it to say that when the two central characters — best friend teenage boys — stop talking to each other, Close> immediately evolves into a completely different kind of movie