Falcon Lake

Falcon Lake is an interesting directorial debut that explores a boy's experience of first love on a summer holiday. The story is very atmospheric, taking place around a mysterious lake. The young boy, only 13, arrives with his family and meets a 16-year-old girl, with whom he falls in love. This is a rites of passage story with all the usual events, such as drinking alcohol, taking drugs, and falling in love for the first time. The young actors give strong performances, open and honest in their emotional vulterability. The director makes wise choices, such as staying with the children and leaving adult actions in the background or slightly off screen. This is an engrossing, charming, slightly disturbing film. The only minus point is the ending, which opts for ambiguity when a more plausible and realistic ending would have had more emotional punch. Well worth seeing.

I saw this film at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Of the twelve films I saw, it was, hands down, the best, and one that will stay with me for a long time.

I don't like reading reviews on here that speak too much to a film's plot, so I won't go into details there. Suffice it to say, this is a uniquely crafted coming-of-age story, depicted with almost painful accuracy, with more than a few twists and fresh takes on the genre. It's funny, moving, at times quiet and contemplative, other times intense and energetic. The acting is superb, and the score is perfect.

I believe it was Howard Hawks who said, what makes a great film is: three great scenes, and no bad scenes. If that is the measuring stick, Charlotte LeBon has presented us with a humble Canadian cinematic masterpiece. Not a single shot of this film is unnecessary or superfluous. Foreshadowing beats its quiet wings throughout the entire film, building to one of the best closing shots I have ever witnessed on screen. Watching those final moments, even my goosebumps had goosebumps. If you've seen the film, you'll know what I mean.

This is obviously based on first hand experience. Without spoiling anything, the basic setup is, as stated in the official storyline, that there is a 13-year-old boy (going on 14), who bonds with a 16-year-old girl. The age difference is almost just 2 years, but we can imagine the difference in their maturity - and we will be right.

The male audience already knows where such a setup can lead for a 14-year-old boy: both Heaven and Hell. And usually it leads to both - almost without exception. So it is a really hard watch for any male who has not completely forgotten his early teen years. Pure art here.

I fully agree with the excellent reviews of the film by Blue-Grotto and comcockbot (the later obviously sat in the same screening as I), and their discription of the story is better than I would be able to deliver. So I will focus on the way the film appeared to me.

Nowadays hardly anyone uses the old academy standard aspect ratio of 1:1.33 anymore and I was a bit sceptic if this stands for an amateuric attempt or fake docu a la Blair Witch Project.

Far from it! The film consists of very controlled settings from the first to the last scene, there is nothing in it that doesn't advance the story or the mood of the film. At the same time it still manages to give you the feeling of an relaxed and slightly boring vacation time for a teenager. Minimal camera movements and long takes with no movement, always a tic longes as we are used to, gives you some uncomfortable moments and you don't know what to do with them, is there something more scary coming or is it just a joke to offset us? The film shifts between the trivial and harmless talks of the grownups and the more daring themes that the two protagonists discuss. The ghost story does appear to come and go. Again, is it just a joke of has it a deeper meaning? Find out for yourself.

Despite the fact the the scenes around the lake have not been technically enhanced, the lake looks not exciting but not mysterious either, the nature is beautiful as it is. The boy and the girl are both great actors and you always believe them in their struggles. The ending has been mentioned as to short to digest, yes, that is true, a bit more time would have been great. But all in all a beautiful film, very well planned and executed, congratulations!

At a remote cabin in Quebec an awkward and innocent 14-year-old boy, Bastien, is taken under the wing of Chloe, an older, mischievous, and much more worldly girl. While swimming beneath the stars and with tales of ghosts, invitations to parties, impossible dares, challenges to face fears, humor, sexual tension, and acts of courage and defiance, Bastien is beguiled by Chloe. She takes him into underworlds around him as well as inside himself, that he never knew existed. He feels on top of the world and also like he is going under.

"You have to be intelligent to find others intelligent," said director Charlotte Le Bon who appeared at this Toronto International Film Festival screening of her debut feature film with one of its stars (Sara Montpetit, who plays Chloe). This enthralling teenage romance and boreal forest cabin inspired tale really resonate with me because I had similar experiences. Chloe is the type of girl I repeatedly fell for in my life, and I treasure a similarly situated cabin in Canada. In Falcon Lake the parents have a peripheral role. The story revolves around Bastien's point of view, and I find that interesting and refreshingly different from mainstream films that focus more on parents. Music is used sparsely and with powerful effect. The acting, sound, photography, dialogue, and everything else all come together so well. Falcon Lake feels authentic and assured. We will see more from Charlotte and Sara in the future. Falcon Lake first appeared at Cannes and is based on a graphic novel by Bastien Vives.