FREE ON CINEGEEK.De Xavier Dolan - Tom At The Farm 

Xavier Dolan from Quebec is only 26 years old and has already made five films. The prodigy won prizes at numerous festivals and laid down exactly the career that every artist can only dream of! As an actor he looks as beautiful as the classic movie stars. And just like in Film Noir, he makes beautiful people do ugly things. But is there something behind the mask of beauty? Dolan has filmed a play by Michel Marc Bouchard that follows the rules of a classic film noir. The film is over 100 minutes long - unfortunately too long for a thriller that should create excitement and get to the point. Dolan tries his hand at a genre film for the first time, but in the end he is mainly interested in the sado-masochistic practices of his two main characters. - Francis (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) has just told about a dance course he attended with his recently deceased brother, now he takes his former partner Tom (Xavier Dolan) into a big barn and puts on music. Tom has to dance with him, Francis would never accept refusal. Both glide through the dark room, Francis leads and Tom surrenders - but in each of his steps there is also something resistant. Francis, who comes from the country, and Tom, the urban dweller - an opposing couple. Both struggle with themselves, standing between a life in absolute freedom and the fear of their own desire. Agathe (Lise Roy), the dead man's mother, never wanted to know anything about her son's connection to Tom. Tom has no choice but to pretend and the lie becomes the truth for him. The whole life on the farm turns into charades. The farm and Francis, once they woo Tom, then they threaten him again. Two souls live in Tomas and Francis' chest: The brutality of the other seems to correspond to the gentleness of the one. But with his attacks against Tom, Francis sometimes seems more vulnerable than his victim. Who's the perpetrator, who's the victim? It's hard to separate now. Francis and Tom hate each other, but everyone wants to be like his counterpart. But then Sarah (Evelyne Brochu) arrives. She must now serve as Tom's alibi friend and at this point, Tom At The Farm begins to strain us with his lengths. The various narrative threads get out of hand, the film lacks the necessary structure. The thriller elements seem clumsy and unmotivated, the wonderful pictures and the intense film music don't help either. Why doesn't Tom just leave the farm? In real detective stories, the characters make ridiculous decisions, which we accept. We gladly forgive a good thriller for not being realistic. But since Tom At The Farm doesn't take himself seriously as such, the movie seems strangely unreal. Behind the beautiful facade there is no passion to unleash real excitement!