Close

okay, i understand what this movie is trying to do, and for the most part, i let it. the first half is genuinely beautiful. the closeness, the way affection exists before it has to explain itself, the quiet terror of realizing the world is already watching and categorizing you. there’s something very true in how the film captures that moment where tenderness starts to feel dangerous. when it makes that choice, i felt myself pulling back. not because i didn’t see it coming, i kinda did actually, but because everything after leans into a kind of emotional terrain i’m wary of. with so much of the film still left, it spends far more time circling grief than unpacking the decision itself. i get the argument that the vagueness mirrors the confusion of those left behind but sometimes it feels less like perspective and more like restraint standing in for depth. that said, i can’t deny how much this movie affected me. the boys are extraordinary. their performances are so natural it feels invasive to watch, like you’re intruding on something private. rémi, especially, carries a softness that lingers long after the screen goes dark not as a symbol, but as a presence. and léo’s confusion, his fear, his guilt all of it feels painfully real, even when the script doesn’t fully meet them where they are. i cried more than i expected. not always because of the writing, but because of the way emotion sits unspoken in their bodies. there’s an honesty there that can’t be manufactured. so yes, i have reservations. i wish the film trusted its characters enough to go deeper instead of quieter. but i still found myself moved, unsettled, and thinking about it long after. also why is god letting me suffer again after everything i went through with dead poets society???