playlistTo be fair, most of Québécois wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s worst tendencies are on display in “Matthias & Maxime.” It’s a polarizing film sure to be abrasive to many, and yet I completely surrendered to this full-hearted romance. After the dismal theater adaptation “It’s Just the End of the World” and a flop sojourn to Hollywood with the as-of-yet-unreleased “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan,” the Canadian director successfully returns to his Montreal and queer-themed roots. Dolan himself plays the titular Max—a more adult, dignified turn for the former voice actor—who discovers romantic feelings for childhood friend Matt (Gabriel D’Almeida Freitas) on the eve of departing to Australia. The soundtrack—Arcade Fire, Britney Spears and especially Phosphorescent, one swoons just thinking of its placement—is ace, drawing you further into the melodrama when it could just as easily play like cliché. It’s a critic-proof film replete with formal experimentation and romantic abandon. A magnet for criticism, Dolan just doesn’t seem to care; “Matthias & Maxime” bravely strives to reach higher tonal registers and mixes in new visual novelties like snap zooms and gleefully indulgent slow-motion sequences. Props as well to the production for
bringing a 35mm print to Cannes, making it the only feature besides “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” to be projected on celluloid. Dolan’s collaboration with cinematographer André Turpin is also woefully under-recognized, and it’s a real treat to see Turpin’s images on film proper.