I'll tread lightly so as to avoid spoilers. There's a marked shift partway through 'Close (2022)' that moves its focus away from exploring a specific form of toxic masculinity and onto a much more typical examination of grief. It essentially throws away its unique theming in favour of some far less interesting stuff. Worse still, it doesn't even deal with that stuff particularly well, ultimately finishing before it can quite make its point. Some of it is pretty problematic, primarily because it backgrounds a certain character and therefore seems to imply that their most important decision stems entirely from the one thing we know about them. Even if this is accidental, it certainly makes the movie's handling of its heavy subject matter that much more clumsy, as does the fact that this element feels principally designed to shock and to make you feel bad for the protagonist rather than the person who it arguably impacts the most (again, I'm being vague to avoid spoilers). Basically, one of the core characters is rendered as nothing more than a plot device. In any case, the back half of the experience wears thin before it's over, opting to revel in its misery rather than tangibly develop its characters. Of course, it does feature some subtle character work and its subtlety is kind of the point, but it doesn't go as deep as it ought to and misses several opportunities to tie everything together. There comes a point where you realise that the piece is designed to make you cry. Its story is undeniably sad and there are a handful of affecting moments, but its emotionality sometimes feels forced and never quite hits home as hard as it should - even when it's at its most genuine. When it finishes, you're just left unfulfilled. Perhaps that's the intended effect, but the ending doesn't feel designed to leave you in the lurch; it seems to think it has tied everything together just enough to have made some sort of statement (which it doesn't manage to do in a meaningful way). Despite all of its problems, though, it's important to remember the film's strong first half. It achieves a marked sense of naturalism (which, to be fair, carries on throughout the entire experience), both through its earthy yet colourful cinematography and its revelatory performances. The two leads turn in perhaps some of the best performances I've seen from someone in their age bracket, totally inhabiting their innocent and introverted characters while saying far more with their eyes than with their voices. The screenplay touches on genuinely intriguing themes and develops its somewhat unconventional relationships incredibly believably. It reaches a subdued level of real-life tragedy that maybe hits even harder than the arguably exaggerated, though certainly realistic, calamity that resonates throughout the back half. It really feels as though it's going to be something special, and even as it moves past its midway point it appears to be going strong. However, it starts to run out of steam and its ending inspires the retrospection which leads to the overall affair souring in your mind. The more I think about it, the less I like it. I have to give credit to its stellar opening movement (and even some moments that arrive later on), but this is ultimately rather disappointing.
Review of Close
