Best movie of this year hands down!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Just saw Mommy (2014) this week, and what a revelation! Great Canadian film by Montreal filmmaker Xavier Dolan, who was only 25 when he made at, and his since gone on to win the Cannes Grand Prix. My expectations weren't high since the only other film I had seen of his was Laurence Anyways, which was really, really long, and felt longer. A number of critics commented how Mommy was I Killed My Mother inverted, told from the perspective of the mother, so I was curious to check it out. Canada also submitted I Killed My Mother for the Foreign Language Oscar.A number of critics had commented Mommy showed Dolan had matured as a director, and I could understand why after seeing I Killed My Mother. It's OK, but it's not great filmmaking or particularly mature. The protagonist- played by Dolan himself- often struck me as a whining brat. There's often conflict between moms and sons, but whether it's significant enough to be a great film is another story- she's not the worst mom ever. One thing that did impress me was how different Anne Dorval is as the mother in both films- Dolan said he deliberately cast her as opposites, and he wasn't kidding! Shows she's a great actress, and it makes me wonder which character is closer to the real her. Unfortunately, despite its Grand Prix, It's Only the End of the World got panned, but Dolan's still young and likely has a future ahead of him.

Xavier Dolan's directorial debut talks about the relationship between a single mother and her gay son, and heavily draws experience from the director's personal relationship with his own mother. The semi-autobiographical nature of the film is apparent in the authenticity and raw emotion expressed between the characters like the frustration and endless friction that comes from a relationship like this. It is refreshing to see this topic being explored through the eyes of a young adult, whose thoughts and opinions on the matter are still fresh and unaltered by time and circumstances that life brings. Dolan is young enough to remember well the feelings of overwhelming frustration to the level of almost hate experienced by a teenager having to deal with a difficult and sometimes intolerable mom, and at the same time is old enough to portray this relationship with some maturity and understanding of the mother's point of view. The result is a movie that will hit home to many people that have lived with their single mom in their teen years. For them this movie could be seen as a portrait of the relentless, absurd cycle of fights and tantrums, that while they may have seemed unbearable at the time (the character says that whoever does not admit hating their mother at one point in their lives is lying), are now viewed with a more comedic spin as to how insignificant they would often be.

During the recent Cannes Film Festival, while going over tweets on in competition films, the most passionate responses seemed to be for Xavier Dolan's fifth film, Mommy (it ended up winning the Jury prize). I had been hearing good things about Dolan for the past few years (mostly that he was a shockingly great director for someone so young - he directed Mommy when he was only 25 and his first film, I Killed My Mother, at 19), so, his first three films being on Netflix Instant, I decided to take the plunge. And, I must say, the buzz is more than justified. I Killed My Mother, which is most often named as his best work, is an absolutely great film - and, yes, it was directed when Dolan was only 19! It helps that the story is semi-autobiographical - the teenage point of view is very important to the film, and it's easily one of the most honest films ever made about teenagers. What's more amazing is that equal time and empathy is given to the mother character. It's hard to believe a teenage boy would have this much understanding of her point of view. Dolan himself plays Hubert, an arrogant, pretentious 16 year-old who hates his mother (Anne Dorval). While Dorval doesn't come off as a completely innocent character, either, Dolan realizes that his character is kind of a little prick. The two are constantly at each other's throats. There isn't much plot, but it's so beautifully observed. Honestly, while the film is not hard to watch and is actually kind of humorous, this hit so close to home for me that I felt devastated throughout. Both of the leads are wonderful, particularly Dorval (she also stars in Mommy, which is something of a sequel, at least in spirit). I should also mention that Dolan is a world class filmmaker. One would expect the actual cinema to be sloppy, but he pays a lot of attention to his visual compositions. This is absolutely fantastic.

Wow... what can I say... I first saw Xavier Dolan's movie "Les Amours Imaginaires" which I rather loved. Without knowing Dolan's name, or knowing he was the guy also acting in the movie. But that film was so lyrical and full of visual poetry. And then this first movie of his: "J'ai tué ma mère"... has twice the intensity of Les Amours Imaginaires. It is all just so heart felt, so open so totally vulnerable. And yet so confident. I envy Xavier Dolan. The man has a talent, a voice that has to be heard. And already at his age. The man is a true artist. I have never seen such a beautiful movie about a young man, not yet of legal age, who is trying to be his own man, who is trying to find his own identity apart from his emotional incapable mother. They stopped being mother and son long ago and became more of a married couple with their petty little fights. She wanting to control her son by unconsciously manipulating him, as if he was her equal partner (i.e. her divorced husband), instead of a young boy that still needs love and guidance. At the end it becomes clear that his lover Antonin whom Hubert declares his love to, is in a way a male version of his mother. He only says 'je t'aime' to the guy when he, just like Hubert's mother, is picking him up by his car, brings his clothes and is declaring that he feels like some servant and that Hubert does not care about what will happen to him at school etc.. Hubert subconsciously recognizes this behaviour from his mother and it is then, when he declares his love for Antonin.And Hubert's mother finally stands up for her son, and thus is really, actively declaring her love for him when she tells the director of the boarding school what she really thinks of him, and thus giving her son actual motherly support.Anyway... Lots more could be written about this movie. The only thing left to say: the man has a given talent. He has an amazing visual and symbolic sense and he knows his way with strong emotions. And in a way this movie reminds me of the emotional realism of Mike Leigh's movies, only probably without the improvisation Leigh permits his actors. And Xavier Dolan puts in lots of visual, lyrical, poetic aesthetics with lots of references to religion, arts and cultural history. A beautiful coming of age movie. To be seen by every male or female, gay or straight, who tries, or tried in the past, to set him or herself free from a dominant parent in order to become an independent free acting man or woman with room left to breathe and to love back his/her parent(s).