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I saw Mommy shortly after the All Time List ended. I thought I'd have to see Juste la fin du monde for the Cesars list since Dolan won Best Director, but it tellingly wasn't even nominated for the top prize (though the cast there, like here, makes me curious to maybe see it one day anyways)

A-ha. Contextualizes your disinterest nicely, then.

I've only seen Tom at the Farm and thought that was pretty good. Maybe it's the old case of something getting lost in translation when you do a film in another language, and I really don't mean to be condescending towards Dolan or Kar-Wai for that matter.

Theatrical trailer, apparently coming March 13th in some market

This is coming out on DVD & Blu Ray in France on 4 September.

What are the chances of the French subtitles not be burning in? Its being released by TF1 Studio.

This got a DVD only release in the states and at least some of Chastain’s deleted material is included in the extras, for all the DonovanHeads out there

domino harvey wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:16 pm This got a DVD only release in the states and at least some of Chastain’s deleted material is included in the extras, for all the DonovanHeads out there

Mine is on the way. It also out in Canada on Blu Ray and I assume that would have English subtitles as well.

So, of course, this is the Dolan film I like. It's certainly hot mess central being over stuffed and so full of Dolan's interests that you have to learn to accept that. The film reminds me of Jia's recent Mountains May Depart to give you a sense of its epic feel of personal incoherence. It took me until the opening credits 12 minutes in to gather Dolan's wavelength. From there though I was sold like nobody's business. The film explains itself schizophrenically with Donovan and Rupert representing different shades of perception for Dolan (given the subject matter I don't want to read too much into the film as actual autobiography) mirroring each other in fascinating ways. Just one example is the place of the mothers for both characters. Both present a sort of tension to their sons, but Donovan's is defined by her ignorant edge while Rupert's is pain inducing for her kindly persona (not to mention Bates' maternally demonic agent).

That gets at the second best part of the film (the millennial friendly soundtrack being the best) which is the casting. Some how even with less than actors like Harrington the casting is a perfect melding of the physical nature of the actors with what the film begs for. It allows the film to just use that actors as inserts to develop the mood and story. That's a complicated technique you don't see often nowadays which might be part of the reason for the toxic reception to the film. Certainly I can't see anything here that would turn people already predisposed to Dolan away from him. The film has a lot in common with Laurence Anyways for example, but is far less abrasive and it holds a story that is more typical being something of a Roman Holiday by way of Sunset BLVD.

The movie also has a ton of relatable little moments that help build the melodramatic crescendo that I feel has been missing from other Dolan films I've seen. Stuff like Rupert freaking out over his favorite television show or the hard breath Harrington has after punching the wall gives the film something loose to live by that allows the very constructed fiction to seem a little more intimate. I don't think I would have cried at the club scene if Dolan had just cut from the punch to it. That's a moment where the mess is a real asset improving the whole.