Must See Movie...

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I don't care for dystopic gay movies nor violence nor s&m so am sort of in a bind on how to rate this horror movie. Obviously it deserves about a 7 for the refreshing and fun camera angles and close ups... However the story turns the images into things that you try and forget mostly...Sorry sadism is not my bag a depressing couple hours. This is all a pity as Dolan (director main actor Tom) is clearly very intelligent. This is a director capable of a 9 rated movie (I grade tough)The director stuck in a couple queeny parts that didn't fit...the tango scene in the barn. He needs to control that. Another negative is after the funeral the thing moves too slowly... Bisexual characters are usually an anthema for gays...and the plot reveals that the dead lover was bisexual and a cheater...yes I will stick with the 1 rating. Not a gay friendly movie except the hero escapes.Again the camera angles and close ups were fun...in this entirely local scene(Quebec) filmed movie. Some of the "helicopter views of a car" were probably digital wizardry but the rest was completely authentic.I don't like movies where there is any possibility they may have killed an animal for the film. There were a couple scenes in this thing of dead looking cows...however I have to believe that Canada would not allow this.If I had been Tom the first facial slap from the Francis would have had me out of there fast. But the story is believable. Was it entertaining? Not really was glad when it was over.Overall this director is clearly talented and has what it takes to turn out interesting movies...is he a genius?...some of the camera stuff really impressed me. I hope he latches onto better stories.Oh one final comment... was the anti-American slap at the very end needed? We are a large potential audience. He has Francis take off his coat and wear a levi-jacket with an American flag and USA on it as he closes in for the kill. Numerous closeups of this. Although not fatal it helps nothing: Je parle français j'habite en Colorado et j'adore les Québécois.DO NOT RECOMMEND this movie but Dolan has great potential.. Will look for other films he has done.

To follow the chronic order, I decide to watch this film before Dolan's latest MOMMY (2014), which has just freshly arrived. TOM AT THE FARM is Canadian prodigy and Cannes darling Xavier Dolan's fourth film, adapted from Michel Marc Bouchard's play, this marks the first time he is not the sole writer for his works, it is also a veer of style for him, delves into the murky suspense and violence of a psychological thriller, and notably, in its highly strained chasing-in-the-forest incident near the coda, it conspicuously recalls another exceptional gay-themed thriller Alain Guiraudie's STRANGERS BY THE LAKE (2013, 8/10) of the same year, but these two films end with two completely contrasting options for our protagonists who both face irresistible sexual attraction from the sort who is too dangerous for their own good.Sported as a perennially tacky curly blond, Dolan plays Tom, an urban advertisement editor who has just lost his boyfriend Guillaume in an accident. Driving en route to attend his funeral in a remote farm, Tom meets Guillaume's family members, his mother Agathe (Roy) and his brother Francis (Cardinal) who lives with her and whose existence has never been informed to Tom until now. On top of that, Agathe seems to be unwitting of Guillaume's sexual orientation, so Tom has to comfort her grievance by telling a white lie that Guillaume has a girlfriend named Sarah (Brochu), who in fact is just one of their common friends. Yet, Francis is the one who actually knows it all, his violent and homophobic behaviour towards Tom strikes a sadomasochistic thrill, which is not merely one-sided, as the film not-so- subtly implies Francis is a closeted homosexual himself. They both desperately or compulsively trace the resemblance or remnants of the deceased in each other, to the degree, Tom actually complies to act as a voluntary hostage on the farm and even enjoys the pastoral drudgery. One night Sarah's visit inopportunely provokes Agathe's deeply- buried agony, while apart from Francis' overcompensated interest in Sarah, Tom learns a horrible episode of his past from a bar owner, which overturns his perception of the tight corner where he is in. The second day, he decides to flee and turns his life back on track. Here, Dolan again plays the Aspect Ratio gimmick, in the scenes where Tom is physically abused by Francis, it changes from the usual 1.85:1 to a more smothering letterbox; and if one is familiar with his narcissistic disposition, here he continues to wallow in close-ups, mostly on himself especially when Tom is anguish-ridden or being suffocated to barely catch a breath under Francis' masculine domination. While the entire film is coherently enveloped in an overcast dreariness, the close-knitted cast (both Roy and Brochu are from the original play) has done an amazing job in establishing the engaging tensions and occasionally a smack of warmth glistening. Roy and Cardinal are the MVPs, the former is offered a soul-pulverising flare-up while being consistently emotive during all her presence, and the latter beefs up his boorish machismo with very disarming appeal which superbly gilds an atmosphere of ambiguity in Francis' deadly mystique; on top of that the two together also builds up a detrimental mother-son relationship, which also wittily insinuates what has happened to the mother in the end, it is an innovative modus operandi to justify the plot-line without revealing everything in front of viewer's eyes. As for our triple threat Dolan, with his Joker-alike makeup, he shows beyond doubt that apart from the ostentatious style bandwagon, he certainly is on his way to mature into a multi-faceted filmmaker who is able to tackle with the darkest corner of humanity and leaves his own trademark on it. A final nod to Dolan's cherrypick of songs, Rufus Wainwright's GOING TO A TOWN, appears in the ending credit, is an utterly poignant theme song for Tom's bumpy ride.

Set in a lonely farm in Quebec, TOM A LA FERME concerns the inner life of the eponymous central character (Xavier Dolan) mourning the death of his lover. He goes to his lover's family's isolated farm for the funeral, and there encounters the mother (Lise Roy) and her other son (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), neither of whom were aware of the dead lover's sexuality.The film concentrates on the gradual discovery by the family of their dead son's secret, and how it affects them. Francis is both horrified yet strangely affected; as the action unfolds, he develops an unnatural affection for Tom that is both sadistic and sexual. The mother seems to be unaware of what's happening around her, but perhaps she is just deliberately blinding herself to the truth as a means of self-protection. Tom finds himself imprisoned at the farm; even when his close acquaintance Sarah (Evelyne Brochu) comes to visit, he cannot contrive an effective escape.TOM A LA FERME concentrates on the ways in which people conceal their private inclinations, even from their nearest and dearest, and the damage that actually causes them. This is especially true of Francis, who emerges from the film as a seriously disturbed character, masking his sexual inadequacies beneath a veil of strength. Yet the process of self-discovery for all the characters is an enabling one - so much so that when Tom finally escapes from the farm, he does not appear very happy to have done so. The film ends with a shot of him re-entering the city of Montreal, the lighted skyscrapers flashing by outside his car windows, with his face set in an expressionless gaze as he drives. It seems that 'freedom' for him is nothing more than a form of imprisonment; by extension, therefore, his imprisonment at the farm was an opportunity to discover some form of freedom.Filmed on a series of bleak winter days in stark, washed-out colors, TOM A LA FERME is a searing psychological examination of sexualities and how they are often willfully concealed.

more than good/bad work, it is a film by Xavier Dolan. and that fact reflects talent and ambition but seems be only beginning. a dark, almost confuse film who has as support the common points with another films from same genre. a remarkable performance - Lise Roy -, interesting music , well dialogs. but without roots for characters intentions or actions. and that fact does entire story in deep fog. at final,beautiful film, nice images, interesting cinematography. and after the applause for Xavier Dolan - as director and actor, the taste of experiment. good homework but not really enough. the themes are the good thing. the atmosphere - in same measure. but, at the second view, it could seem a form of waist of spices. it is not a problem - it is only a Xavier Dolan film. the colors, the message, the search. each personal in high measure.