Marlon Brando
2020 · 19m · Netherlands
Directed by Vincent Tilanus
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: melancholic, tender
Two openly queer best friends, Cas and Naomi, face the end of high school and the terrifying prospect that their diverging futures will dissolve the bond that has defined their youth.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
40 vignettes in 19 minutes about queer Dutch best friends at the end of high school. The rapid-fire montage is doing the heavy lifting on what could otherwise be standard Aftersun-Booksmart wistfulness — but rapid-fire is a real choice.
Tilanus compressing forty vignettes into nineteen minutes is the formal answer to the question of how to film a friendship — Aftersun-via-Booksmart with chosen-family stakes. Vincent Tilanus is a name I will now watch for.
40 vignettes in 19 minutes is a rapid-fire structural commitment that trades arc for texture — the right formal choice for a friendship-portrait rather than a friendship-story. The Aftersun comparison only earns out if the montage rhythm trusts itself enough.
Reviews
Their performances instantly make you fall in love with them and as you become entangled in the energy and dynamic of their friendship, it just makes its downfall all the more heartbreaking.
The final scene retains a sense of realism by avoiding a saccharine reunion, but still manages one last look at the genuine love between the two protagonists.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival - Semaine de la Critique 2020
- Toronto International Film Festival 2020
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2021
- Go Short International Short Film Festival, Winner
- Aspen Shortsfest, Winner
- Nederlands Film Festival, Golden Calf Nomination