Whenever I am asked to name my favourite film director, my answers vary between Pedro Almodovar and Darren Aronofsky, however there is someone else who I maybe should start citing – my rationale for leaving him out of it was his lack of industry establishment, I suppose, but this music video/short film (which has been banned in France) for Indochine’s College Boy is starting to cement the fact that Xavier Dolan can well be up there with my personal two greats.
The Canadian writer, director, and actor has always created work that is contentious on some level – from the mere title of I Killed My Mother to the darker romantic side of Heartbeats.
Here is the black-and-white video for French heritage band Indochine’s College Boy which stars Montreal actor Antoine Pilon as a high-school kid bullied by his classmates. I don’t actually want to spoil it, but the nature of the global news controversy leads itself in that direction. The end for the student is brutal where we witness him literally being crucified by his classmates and shot at by the police. It is heartwrenching commentary on societal bullying and gun crime, and works well with the song, but there are a thousand songs that it could have worked better with. If you cannot see the YouTube video below for any reason, click here.
24-year-old Xavier Dolan is currently preparing a summer U.S. release for his third feature Laurence Anyways.
