Falcon Lake

[Göteborg FF '23] A story of adolescent growth that is surrounded by a disturbing atmosphere, introducing ghostly elements that, like the supernatural in "El agua" (2022), feed the context of the protagonists. The director succeeds in introducing this concern in a subtle way (the hum of an electrical tower), but in the end it ends up being a formal resource that only tries to justify an unconvincing outcome. The young actor Joseph Engel is capable of expressing the internal heartbeat of love from the apparent inexpression, and contributes a good part of the virtues of a film that, on the other hand, contributes little to the usual stories about first love.

Sweet little Canadien film portraying the first love and coming of age of a 14 year old. I wasn’t sure how to feel about this film initially as it does rather sexualize a young teen – but how else is the Director Charlotte Le Bon supposed to make a film about the desires of those at that age. In the end it is done very tenderly and sensitively. The film is rather beautiful in that respect as we see Bastien who is on a family holiday, lust after Chloe who has several other, older male admirers. The film captures a lot of the excitement, adventure, awkwardness and aloofness of first encounters with love and lust at that age, as well as the stomach sickening nervousness and horror of it all. It does though have a tiny choreographed and obvious climax and - the third act is impossible to write about without spoilers, so I won’t try. A convincing debut from Charlotte Le Bon. 7.8/10