Chicago – Coming of age dramas are a dime a dozen in Hollywood, but few are ever brave enough to grapple with the profound transitions that occur during one’s teenage years. Young American moviegoers’ first encounter with foreign cinema is often the result of their search for honest and unflinching portraits of sexual awakening and discovery. In terms of sheer maturity, American movies are still woefully below the curve set by most countries.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
One of the best films of the last decade was Céline Sciamma’s “Tomboy,” a captivating French drama about a 10-year-old girl who dresses in boyish clothing and develops feelings for one of her female friends. The picture offered a hopeful twist on Kimberly Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry” by accentuating the healing that occurs when one is true to one’s own identity. Sciamma proved to be as skilled as the Dardenne Brothers in...
Rating: 2.5/5.0
One of the best films of the last decade was Céline Sciamma’s “Tomboy,” a captivating French drama about a 10-year-old girl who dresses in boyish clothing and develops feelings for one of her female friends. The picture offered a hopeful twist on Kimberly Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry” by accentuating the healing that occurs when one is true to one’s own identity. Sciamma proved to be as skilled as the Dardenne Brothers in...
- 2/15/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Early on in Belgian writer-director Bavo Defurne's North Sea Texas, we watch as Yvette (Eva Van der Gucht) walks in on her effeminate young son -- Pim (Ben Van den Heuvel) -- as he fantasizes about being a beauty pageant contestant while wearing a tiara. Perhaps due to her nonchalant approach to parenting, Yvette barely bats an eye at the sight of her son dressed up as a girl; and though Pim never really officially "comes out," we can sense an overall indifference towards sexuality in this quaint Flemish town on the coast of the North Sea. North Sea Texas has nothing to do with "coming out" or navigating one's own sexuality; this is a story about a 16-year-old Pim's (Jelle Florizoone) first love, albeit a clandestine affair with a slightly older boy, Gino (Mathias Vergels). Their relationship is only kept secret because that is what the Gino requests; otherwise,...
- 11/14/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
The most striking thing about North Sea Texas is the handsome precision of its aesthetic, which, from the windswept beaches of its coastal setting to the ’70s duds that match home décor, comes close to endowing the film with a magical-realist vibe. A native Belgian and graduate of a Brussels art school, writer/director Bavo Defurne isn’t interested in being a fly on the wall. From a portfolio of ethereal photography to a handful of short films (including Campfire, which gobbled up praise as it cruised the international festival circuit), Defurne has an affinity not for the affected, but for the just north of actual, beautifying his subject matter without robbing it of its weight. In North Sea Texas, his feature debut, Defurne adapts a tale originally told by Flemish author André Sollie, about two boys, Pim (Jelle Florizoone) and Gino (Mathias Vergels), who share a closeted romance. A...
- 11/2/2012
- by R. Kurt Osenlund
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
North Sea Texas
Directed by Bavo Defurne
Written by Bavo Defurne and Yves Verbraeken
Belgium, 2011
A wistful mother and her seventeen-year-old son take in a gypsy traveler as a house patron. After a slew of ceremonious courtesies, the mother and her son pit themselves against each other, in hopes of seducing the same man.
Strange? Surely. But in Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas, this kind of peculiarity is par for the course. Charming, quaint, and deceptively funny, North Sea Texas is a gay coming-of-age story that’s appropriately queer.
North Sea Texas tells the story of Pim (Jelle Florizoone), an introverted teenaged boy who struggles with his apparent homosexuality and his fatally nostalgic mother (Eva van der Gucht). An avid drawer, Pim confides in his illustrations, and when his relationship with an older boy, Gino (Mathias Vergels), begins to escalate, Pim discovers his indelible muse.
In terms of a...
Directed by Bavo Defurne
Written by Bavo Defurne and Yves Verbraeken
Belgium, 2011
A wistful mother and her seventeen-year-old son take in a gypsy traveler as a house patron. After a slew of ceremonious courtesies, the mother and her son pit themselves against each other, in hopes of seducing the same man.
Strange? Surely. But in Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas, this kind of peculiarity is par for the course. Charming, quaint, and deceptively funny, North Sea Texas is a gay coming-of-age story that’s appropriately queer.
North Sea Texas tells the story of Pim (Jelle Florizoone), an introverted teenaged boy who struggles with his apparent homosexuality and his fatally nostalgic mother (Eva van der Gucht). An avid drawer, Pim confides in his illustrations, and when his relationship with an older boy, Gino (Mathias Vergels), begins to escalate, Pim discovers his indelible muse.
In terms of a...
- 5/20/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Headhunters (15)
(Morten Tyldum, 2011, Nor/Ger) Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Eivind Sander. 100 mins
It's a Scandinavian crime thriller, but for once, this isn't like The Killing or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It's closer to the Coen brothers, with enough unpredictable plot turns, eccentric touches and morbid laughs to banish the Nordic darkness. There's something of Steve Buscemi about its hero, too: Hennie plays a slimy corporate headhunter/secret art thief who meets his match, loses his grip and literally ends up in the toilet as a result.
Le Havre (PG)
(Aki Kaurismäki, 2011, Fin/Fra/Ger) André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin. 93 mins
Applying his gentle, silent-comical approach to the tale of an illegal immigrant and his French protectors reaps rewards for Kaurismäki in a movie that's whimsical on the surface but built on firm foundations.
This Must Be The Place (15)
(Paolo Sorrentino, 2011, Us) Sean Penn, Frances McDormand,...
(Morten Tyldum, 2011, Nor/Ger) Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Eivind Sander. 100 mins
It's a Scandinavian crime thriller, but for once, this isn't like The Killing or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It's closer to the Coen brothers, with enough unpredictable plot turns, eccentric touches and morbid laughs to banish the Nordic darkness. There's something of Steve Buscemi about its hero, too: Hennie plays a slimy corporate headhunter/secret art thief who meets his match, loses his grip and literally ends up in the toilet as a result.
Le Havre (PG)
(Aki Kaurismäki, 2011, Fin/Fra/Ger) André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin. 93 mins
Applying his gentle, silent-comical approach to the tale of an illegal immigrant and his French protectors reaps rewards for Kaurismäki in a movie that's whimsical on the surface but built on firm foundations.
This Must Be The Place (15)
(Paolo Sorrentino, 2011, Us) Sean Penn, Frances McDormand,...
- 4/6/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
This beautiful-looking film about fledging gay love on the Belgian coast drifts by placidly
An engaging, if placid, debut from acclaimed shorts director Bavo Defurne. Pim (Jelle Florizoone) is a 15-year-old boy living in a dull Belgian coastal town with his fading beauty queen mum. He's in love with Gino (Mathias Vergels) – the dashing older boy next door. Gino's a little in love with Pim, too, but wants to keep their relationship a secret, especially from his younger sister, who's dappy over Pim. Defurne makes a point of shunning social realism and presents lonely, horny Pim's story through a fog of polished-to-a-glow stylishness. North Sea Texas looks beautiful, is acted brilliantly, but it's hard to get a hold on when Pim's drifting by in a dream world.
Rating: 3/5
DramaWorld cinemaHenry Barnes
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content...
An engaging, if placid, debut from acclaimed shorts director Bavo Defurne. Pim (Jelle Florizoone) is a 15-year-old boy living in a dull Belgian coastal town with his fading beauty queen mum. He's in love with Gino (Mathias Vergels) – the dashing older boy next door. Gino's a little in love with Pim, too, but wants to keep their relationship a secret, especially from his younger sister, who's dappy over Pim. Defurne makes a point of shunning social realism and presents lonely, horny Pim's story through a fog of polished-to-a-glow stylishness. North Sea Texas looks beautiful, is acted brilliantly, but it's hard to get a hold on when Pim's drifting by in a dream world.
Rating: 3/5
DramaWorld cinemaHenry Barnes
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content...
- 4/6/2012
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ Belgian director Bavo Defurne produces an enjoyable debut with first feature North Sea Texas (2011), an adaptation of the novel This Will Last by Yves Verbraeken, providing an arresting portrayal of a young boy's first love. Pim (Jelle Florizoone) lives in a dead-end town on the coast of Belgium with his single mother - and minor local celebrity - Yvette (Eva van der Gucht). Pim spends much of his time daydreaming about becoming a beauty queen in order to escape the monotony of his life, but as he matures his attention shifts to the boy next door, Gino (Mathias Vergels).
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Read more »...
- 4/5/2012
- by CineVue
- CineVue
Bavo Defurne's North Sea Texas goes to Strand Releasing Strand Releasing has picked up all U.S. rights to the coming-of-age story from Wavelength Pictures, reports Variety. The film which makes its U.S. premiere in the World Cinema program of the Palm Springs Film Festival, stars Jelle Floorizoone, Eva Van Der Gucht, Luk Wijns, Thomas Coumans, Mathias Vergels and Nina Marie Kortekaas. The announcement was made today by Strand for the Belgian film which screened at the Rome Cinema Festival where it won the Alice Nella Citta 13+ Award. Adapted from the novel "This Is Everlasting" by Andre Sollie, this is the synopsis, courtesy of the Palm Springs Film Festival: A lonely gay adolescent suffers the pangs of unrequited love in this poignantly rendered coming-of-ager. The narrative unfolds in a small town on the Belgian coast in the late 1960s and 70s, where introverted dreamer Pim grows up accustomed...
- 1/4/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Bavo Defurne's North Sea Texas goes to Strand Releasing Strand Releasing has picked up all U.S. rights to the coming-of-age story from Wavelength Pictures, reports Variety. The film which makes its U.S. premiere in the World Cinema program of the Palm Springs Film Festival, stars Jelle Floorizoone, Eva Van Der Gucht, Luk Wijns, Thomas Coumans, Mathias Vergels and Nina Marie Kortekaas. The announcement was made today by Strand for the Belgian film which screened at the Rome Cinema Festival where it won the Alice Nella Citta 13+ Award. Adapted from the novel "This Is Everlasting" by Andre Sollie, this is the synopsis, courtesy of the Palm Springs Film Festival: A lonely gay adolescent suffers the pangs of unrequited love in this poignantly rendered coming-of-ager. The narrative unfolds in a small town on the Belgian coast in the late 1960s and 70s, where introverted dreamer Pim grows up accustomed...
- 1/4/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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