Tom à la ferme (Tom at the Farm)

This screening took place on Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 9:00 pmYukon Arts Centre

Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), one of Canada’s most provocative and boundary pushing filmmakers, dips his toes into the mainstream with this gripping psychological thriller. Dolan plays the grief-stricken Tom, who ventures into the bucolic Quebec countryside for his lover’s funeral, only to become a pawn in a sadistic game perpetrated by the deceased’s savage, sexually repressed brother (Pierre-Yves Cardinal). Nimbly juggling elements of noir, suspense and melodrama, Dolan demonstrates equal technical bravura as he daringly narrows his film’s aspect ratio, as the narrative progresses, cleverly conveying precisely how inescapable Tom’s circumstances have become. A far more rugged and menacing affair than you’d expect from Dolan, Tom at the Farm captivates throughout and leaves you wondering what else the multi-hyphenate might be capable of. In French with English subtitles