Early Dolan: Cinema of Restless Youth
Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 12:18AM 
Like many others, I've been missing the experience of going to the movies quite terribly. Lately, I find myself thinking about films I had planned on watching before the COVID-19 pandemic annihilated any sense of normalcy. There was a picture scheduled to open in Portuguese theaters in the middle of March that I was particularly sad to see affected by this crisis. Matthias et Maxime is Xavier Dolan's latest film and, according to many critics, represents a return to form by the Canadian director after some less than ideal productions. As someone who once called himself a fan of Xavier Dolan, I'm eager to see him return to the glory of his earlier work…
I Killed My Mother (2009)
To be clear, the stumbling failure of It's Only the End of the World and especially The Death and Life of John F. Donovan was a crushing disappointment. Worst yet, I couldn't count myself among those who saw value in those films' histrionic idiosyncrasies. It's Only the End of the World constructs a sense of emotional claustrophobia that's interesting, but quickly squanders it with undisciplined formalism and a collection of performances perilously turned to eleven at all times. As for Dolan's first English language movie, I prefer not to dwell on its mediocrity. It's not worth it.
This filmography of diminishing returns coupled with Dolan's bratty persona offscreen gradually made the shining promise of his cinema lose its luster. Still, the allure of those early films remains steadfast, though not because Dolan's indulgencies were absent from them. Quite the contrary, the first features of Xavier Dolan are even more histrionic and lustily performed, more undisciplined with form, more exuberant, and obnoxious than his two big flops. If possible, they're even less subtle too. What makes them better is that their maximalist approach is in symbiosis with all the other elements of their construction.
Heartbeats (2010)
That's why 2009's I Killed My Mother is still my favorite picture of Dolan's. While it's true that Mommy represents an apotheosis of style and that Tom at the Farm better suggests a mature filmmaker, the exuberance of that first feature persists on surpassing them. Part of it is that the director's burst of stylistic hubris with all its rough edges is quite perfect for a story that's philtered by the perspective of rebellious youth. Dolan famously wrote I Killed My Mother at 16 and the giddiness of a first-time director who loves cinema and feverish melodrama makes itself felt throughout.
Instead of forcing his style unto shambolic narratives that cannot sustain them, Dolan's first features effortlessly give in to the lunacy of his filmmaking. Flourishes that feel disruptively ornamental in The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, bloom from I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats, and Laurence Anyways organically. When the tantrums of Hubert, the first film's protagonist, explode into music videos, it's akin to watching the character editorialize his suffering. The same can be said about Laurence Anyway's storms of leaves and torrents of silk scarves. The friends at the center of Heartbeats are so concerned with curating their aesthetics that the movie's ostentatious references to Wong Kar-Wai and Goddard come off as an extension of its characters' way of considering their world and how they live in it.
Laurence Anyways (2012)
Often films about young fellows or people at crossroads feel like detached observations. For example, it's rare to see a feature about teenagers that is in the same wavelength as its subjects. Most condescend to the ones they portray, an adult's remembrance of youth instead of an immersive experience of it. In that regard, Dolan's early pictures are vital artifacts of restless cinema about restless souls. They transpire authenticity with their bold experiments and even their failure is in tune with its vision of humanity. Form and content, story and tone, people and style, come together in an inchoate flurry of cinematic glory that's genuinely moving to boot. I miss that Dolan. Do you?
Xavier Dolan's first three films, I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats, and Laurence Anyways, are all available to stream in the US, right now. Look for them on Kanopy, Amazon Prime, Yupp TV, and others.
Reader Comments (13)
Laurence Anyways is his masterpiece as it definitely became the arrival of a filmmaker to watch out for as I also enjoyed Tom at the Farm and Mommy. I haven't seen his recent work to date while I'm wary about The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.
"Early Dolan" is such a hilarious term. Is he technically now in his mid-career?
I liked MATHIAS AND MAXIME a lot. Not as stylistically ambitious (or over-the-top, whichever way you see it) as these earlier works, though. I know a lot of people who really like IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD. I don't hate it, either.
I was lucky enough to see "Matthias & Maxime"in a Canadian cinema late in 2019. Definitely a return to form. Expressive, affecting - a film that leaves a long, lingering impression. Among other things it brings another of those marvelous supporting performances Dolan has such a knack for coaxing out of veteran female performance - in this case Micheline Bernard. And Dolan's muse, Anne Dorval, again playing a very complicated mother, adds some new spiky notes of her own. As for Dolan's performance as Maxime, he's flat out terrific . But with the unlikelihood of a U.S. theatrical release at this point , the Academy's history of all but ignoring Dolan plus, of course,the complications of the current climate I don't expect any Oscar love.
I saw it in a theatre too, but I HATED it.
Yet it's the kind of cinema experience I fear losing the most. Taking a chance on a movie with mixed reviews and coming out with a strong opinion. When this is all over, I don't want to lose the spaecs that would show me a Dolan movie.
Glenn Dunks -- I find it a funny expression too, but couldn't think of a better way to characterize his earlier works. That said, he has already directed as many narrative features in ten years as Paul Thomas Anderson in his entire career, for example. Dolan's quite prolific which makes his evolution as a filmmaker stark, even during a short amount of time.
The word is "NORMALITY." No such word as normalcy."
Anon -- I believe they are synonyms. At least, my English dictionary lists the word 'normalcy'. I just checked.
However, since I'm not a native English speaker, I admit that my usage of the word might be a bit weird. Thanks for the feedback.
I Killed My Mother is still my favorite as well. The mother and son performances are so fantastically hostile, and Dolan's heightened nature ties into teenage angst beautifully.
I remember when everyone thought he was the new Almodovar, or at least the new François Ozon. Now I feel like nobody I know even keeps up with his new films, that everyone has completely forgotten about him. I certainly don't care any more. At some point you've got to stop being "promising" and you have to deliver a really good film.
Remember how horrible The Death and Life of John F. Donovan was? Makes me terrified to watch Matthias et Maxime.
I've hated every single movie he directed. They are unbearable. I think "maximalism" (you're being kind to him) is for people who have a clear aesthetic project. Consuming a lot of MTV doesn't give you this kind of vision.
Um, anon, normalcy is a word. It's in the dictionary. It's not even listed as a "nonstandard" form of another word. It's just a word. A quick google search shows at least three dozen books with "normalcy" in the TITLE of the book.
While his star has sadly faded in recent years, Mommy is still, without hesitation, my favorite film ever made. I masterclass of emotional storytelling and such a brilliant piece of living breathing art.