Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.
Xavier Dolan's intimate drama about two longtime friends navigating unexpected feelings after a same-sex kiss for a student film is grounded in naturalistic, lived-in performances from its ensemble cast, with Pierre-Yves Cardinal and Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas delivering quietly affecting work. The film benefits from Dolan's characteristic eye for emotional texture and close-up intimacy, though the cinematography is less stylistically adventurous than some of his earlier work. The story treads familiar coming-out and friendship-disruption territory without radically reinventing the form, and the resolution, while emotionally satisfying, arrives somewhat predictably. It's a mature, restrained Dolan effort that prioritizes authenticity over spectacle.