Say what you want about Xavier Dolan (he seems to have just as many fans as he does detractors) but his films have a place in certain circles. He's also young which means there's room to grow & mature over time (and I don't mean to be patronizing because he's already shown how talented he is as both a filmmaker and an actor). Like his contemporary Cam Archer, Dolan's influences range from Gus Van Sant & Todd Haynes (LGBT issues & sexual identity) to Wong Kar Wai (the use of slow motion) & Leos Carax which is pretty impressive given his age (a lot of young art house filmmakers under the age of 30 like Dolan tend to exclusively draw influences from obvious sources like The French New Wave or they get a warped sense of influence from John Cassavetes).
With The Toronto International Film Festival right around the corner (which coincides with the Toronto premier of It's Only The End Of The World) I thought I would dedicate this next entry to one of Canada's (youngest) hometown heroes.
Enjoy...
COLOR PALETTE
You can always count on Xavier Dolan to use every color combination known to man (as you scroll through this piece you'll see this is the one category that bleeds through all the other categories in this entry). Actually, if you go back and look at The Cinema Of Todd Haynes one might consider Dolan to be the modern heir to Haynes in terms of color usage...
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| It's Only The End Of The World |
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| I Killed My Mother |
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| It's Only The End Of The World |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Mommy |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Mommy |
MOMMY ISSUES
I always hesitate to speculate about the personal lives of directors but in the case of Xavier Dolan it's almost impossible not to when he practically lays it all out for us in his films (hey, his relationship with his mom might be just fine in real life but his personal/intimate films lead me to think otherwise). I mean, his feature film debut is called "I Killed My Mother". Since his debut almost every one of his films has explored the rocky relationships between a (male) protagonist and his mother (he has yet to explore any other parental relationship i.e. Father & Son, Mother & Daughter, etc).
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| It's Only The End Of The World |
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| Mommy |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| I Killed My Mother |
RECURRING SHOTS...
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| Tom At The Farm |
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| I Killed My Mother |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Mommy |
USE OF SLOW-MOTION
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| Heartbeats |
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| Mommy |
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| Laurence Anyways |
(POSSIBLE) VISUAL INFLUENCES
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| Ordet/I Killed My Mother |
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| I Killed My Mother/Jackson Pollock |
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| Mommy/The Creation Of Adam |
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| Heartbeats |
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| In The Mood For Love |
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| Mommy/Gummo |
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| Boy Meets Girl/Mommy |
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| Boy Meets Girl/Mommy |
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| Mommy/My Own Private Idaho |
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| Mysterious Skin/Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats/David |
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| Heartbeats/David |
GODARD'S INFLUENCE
MUSIC
I know it's an obvious/cliche statement but music really is good for the soul. It (temporarily) heals, soothes, calms, etc. Xavier Dolan knows this which is why he uses music (usually through headphones) as a (temporary) escape for his troubled characters...
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| I Killed My Mother |
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| Mommy |
RAGE
It's understandable why people get more caught up in the colors, slow motion cinematography & glamour (something we'll be getting in to next) in Dolan's films but a lot of his characters are hurting and holding in a ton of rage.
Our female lead in
Laurence Anyways is struggling with the sexuality of her partner. Our lead youth in
Mommy has a lot of misguided anger due to his home life and Tom (
Tom At The Farm) is struggling with the fact that his deceased lover kept their (homosexual) relationship a secret from his family.
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| Tom At The Farm |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| It's Only The End Of The World |
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| Mommy |
GLAMOUR/MODERN ART
Perhaps this is another callback to Todd Haynes' influence (
Velvet Goldmine). Dolan is clearly fascinated with pop art, high fashion, glitter, glam-rock (specifically Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie) and just all things "glamorous"...
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Hello |
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| Mommy |
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| I Killed My Mother |
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| I Killed My Mother |
THE HUMAN BODY
Xavier Dolan doesn't shy away from exploring the naked/half naked body (
I Killed My Mother &
Heartbeats) or the idea of not feeling comfortable in your own skin like in the case of
Laurence Anyway.
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| I Killed My Mother |
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| I Killed My Mother |
SEX, SENSUALITY & (SOMETIMES UNHEALTHY) DESIRES
Dolan's characters often find themselves unhealthily fantasizing over crushes (in
Heartbeats we see one of the main characters masturbating while sniffing the shirt of the person he has a crush on) or we see them stalking their ex's like in the case of
Laurence Anyways...
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Heartbeats |
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| Tom At The Farm |
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| I Killed My Mother |
FRUSTRATING MAIN CHARACTERS
While I enjoy most of Dolan's films, a lot of his lead characters sometimes drive me crazy as they're manipulative & narcissistic (Nicolas in
Heartbeats), kind of bratty (Dolan In
I Killed My Mother) or incredibly self-centered (Laurence in
Laurence Anyways)...
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| I Killed My Mother |
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| Laurence Anyways |
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| Heartbeats |
