November 16th: TOM AT THE FARM (Xavier Dolan, 2013)

A man visits the farm where his recently-deceased lover's family lives, and find himself in the middle of games of deception and abuse.

Quebecois filmmaker Xavier Dolan began his career as a child actor, as well as dubbing French language tracks for many popular Hollywood films.  At 20 years old, his debut feature I Killed My Mother won several awards after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival's Director's Fortnight section.  His subsequent films Les Amours Imaginaires (a.k.a. Heartbeats) and Laurence Anyways also played at Cannes, drawing comparisons to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, Wong-Kar Wai, and Pedro Almodóvar, the latter winning the "Queer Palme" for LGBTQ-themed works as well as Best Actress in the Un Certain Regard sidebar.

Dolan made an abrupt left turn with his next film in several different ways. Instead of writing another original screenplay, he was excited about a play he saw in Montreal and approached the playwright Michel Marc Brouchard about adapting it for the screen together. Set in a rural area, the milieu is far from the urban middle-class of his previous works. And the usual romantic pursuits of his protagonists have been eschewed for a darker tone and a clear entry into the thriller genre.

The cast is headed by Dolan in the title role, with his typical short, dark hair dyed blond and grown out. Lise Roy reprises her stage role as the mother. He's joined by fellow Quebecois actors Pierre-Yves Cardinal (Denis Villeneuve's Polytechnique) and Évelyne Brochu (TV's Orphan Black).

Behind the camera was a new cinematographer for Dolan, André Turpin, who had shot several films for Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (Maelström, Incendies). As with his previous films, Dolan did the costume design, and also edited the film himself.

The film was originally intended to have no musical score, relying on sounds of nature for the atmosphere. Part way through post-production Dolan had second thoughts about this approach, and called on the services of Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley) to contribute a score, the result drawing comparisons to Bernard Herrmann's work for Alfred Hitchcock.

Tom At The Farm premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Dolan earned some of the best reviews of his young career as well as the FIPRESCI international critics award. It received 8 Canadian Screen Award nominations, including Best Picture and Director. The Jutra Awards (for French Canadian films) recognized it in similar fashion, with Cardinal winning for his supporting performance.

Running time is 95 minutes.