'Laurence Anyways', an Epic Transgender Romance, Sets the StandardJohn Oursler October 21, 2013
Let's get one thing out of the way immediately: Xavier Dolan is a genius. At 22, he had already made his third feature film, Laurence Anyways, a sprawling, gender-bending epic on par with some of film's most visually accomplished works; comparisons to Wong Kar-wai and Kubrick have been made. The film won awards worldwide, including in Cannes and at the Toronto International Film Festival.
His first two films, I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats, established and entrenched him on the international scene, mostly on the festival circuit, as an auteur on the rise. This year he premiered yet another acclaimed film, Tom at the Farm, his fourth in five years. This pace is not only rare but tends to indicate a level of artistic confidence and showmanship; Fassbinder's 40+ films in just over a decade established that seemingly insurmountable template.
Clocking in at nearly three hours, Laurence Anyways is a work at once staggering in its ingenuity and steeped in cinematic influence. Dolan's films are of the few that clearly address the spectrum of human sexuality and desire, linking him to the earlier work of the young Pedro Almodovar, another provocateur who broke boundaries with his frank and fearless portrayals of gay life.
