by Anthony Mullins
Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Elliot Page, Hillary Baack, Wendy Crewson, Peter Outerbridge
Intro:
While it strives for nuance and complexity, Close to You ultimately gets lost in repetition and a surprising joylessness.
As Elliot Page’s first film since 2017’s Flatliners, and his first feature in a male role, Close to You feels like a particularly personal project for the talented actor. Indeed, Page not only co-produces but also co-writes the project with director Dominic Savage, known for his improvisational style of directing.
Savage uses a story outline rather than a compete script. Page talked enthusiastically about how liberating the experience was to film and how it enabled the whole cast to plum new emotional depths. There is no doubt the film brims with powerful emotion and strong performances as it tells the story of Riley (Page), a trans-man living in Toronto who returns to his family home for the first time since transitioning.
The occasion is his father’s birthday, and his well-meaning family is on tenterhooks as they navigate Riley’s return. Everyone is trying hard to be welcoming, so hard that every scene is fraught with pain, angst and unintended micro-aggressions, making the awkward reunion at times difficult to watch.
While it is an astute observation to explore how these polite overcompensations can undermine the very best of intentions, the film leans too heavily on variations of this idea as the actors riff their way through the loose narrative outline. The only overt antagonist in the story is Paul, the husband of Riley’s sister, who makes an all-too-predictable attack over dinner about pronouns, leading to an extended escalation that reinforces Riley’s conflicted family situation.
A secondary storyline involves Katherine (Hilary Baack), an old school friend and ex-lover, that Riley meets on the train to visit his family. While a lot has obviously changed, the two old friends still have feelings for each other, feelings they are tempted to explore again.
Both of these storylines are rich material for a trans-character like Riley, offering a potentially fresh spin on both the family reunion and romance genres. Yet, the film’s bloated and, at times, repetitive scenes leave both stories underdeveloped and ultimately unsatisfying. What is particularly missing is the “joy” that Riley’s family frequently talk about in relation to his transition and how much happier he was afterwards. Perhaps those improvs were left on the cutting room floor.
Despite these misgivings, Close to You is full of powerful performances that will have many reaching for the tissues, particularly from Baack as Katherine, Peter Outerbridge as Riley’s father and, of course, Page who reminds us what a striking screen presence he is.
