À l'ouest de Pluton

West of Pluto is a snapshot, a day in the life in a small cul-de-sac of suburban Quebec—a seemingly random corner of the world, where ten suburban teens start pretentious garage bands, give class presentations, fall in and out of love, score pot, fight with parents, throw house parties that spiral out of control, and g...o through the quintessential experiences that make adolescence a churning mix of awkwardness, friendship, petty cruelty, and larger than life emotions. This subtle, brilliantly constructed film paints a dead-on, unfiltered portrait of the high-school experience. West of Pluto’s gripping realism and young non-professional cast draw comparisons to the teen dramas of Gus van Sant and Larry Clark. But West of Pluto has appeal for young audiences as well as adults and implicitly asks the question: what is a film for young people anyway? Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus notwithstanding, the lives of most teenagers would be rated R—and by this standard young people are restricted from viewing realistic depictions of their own experience. West of Pluto gives us just that, and with unsurpassed emotional honesty. Beginning in an almost documentary style, the film builds into a tense and compelling drama, with moments of exuberance, turmoil, and heart-wrenching pathos. The first-time directors worked with the 15- and 16-year-old non-professional actors for six months prior to shooting and the performers’ mix of improvised and scripted dialogue creates an authentic and richly nuanced realism that is so natural it doesn’t seem like acting at all. The result is a genuinely moving, humorous, highly believable work of cinema that cuts to the heart of this intense, fascinating time of life when people struggle to relate with others and try to make sense of the absurdity of the world they inhabit. Read More