Jean-Marc Vallee's exceptional 2005 Canadian drama traces the spiritual and psychosexual odyssey of a boy born on Christmas Day 1960 to a devout Catholic mother and a dad obsessed with Patsy Cline. After the child is caught dressing up in his mother's clothes he grows up under a cloud of disapproval, and as he approaches manhood he trades the church for pot and David Bowie. Marc-Andre Grondin is electric as the androgynous young hero, who vents his rage and confusion without losing his sense; the tricky role of the father requires veteran actor Michel Cote to balance tenderness and coldness, obduracy and decency. In French with subtitles.
By
Andrea Gronvall
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