The film deals with a level of intimacy, care and a subtle camera accompanying two young actors who really bring it all, with themes varying from innocence, bullying, friendship as first love, to guilt and grief. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 19, 2023

Utterly gripping and wrenchingly sad.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 8, 2023

Is Close the little film that could? On the bright side, it just very well might be.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2023

...Dhont insists so deeply on the import of it all as to condemn anyone not willing to be led along.

Full Review | Sep 11, 2023

The film portrays how society's unkind treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals and its rigid attitudes against male affection can profoundly affect even the most innocent children.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 29, 2023

An unheralded gem of a motion picture, and one of the most authentic depictions of teenage tragedy in memory.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 28, 2023

Lukas Dhont uses the relationship between two adolescent boys as a cathartic study on the intersectionality of friendship, identity, masculinity, and grief.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Close is ultimately a film about healing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 23, 2023

Close, at its core, is about the earliest fissure in companionship, the grief that accompanies it, and the consequences it can bear. Dhont is preoccupied with exploring the first heartbreak in friendship, one that emotionally manifests itself, even in men

Full Review | Jul 20, 2023

The acting is excellent by everyone, particularly by Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele and Émilie Dequenne (who plays Sophie, Rémi's mother). The writing, direction and editing are all superb and spare. Every scene, every shot, counts.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 12, 2023

when misunderstandings are taken as fact in a tale of children isolated, with unspeakable tragedy and guilt resulting, the effect is hollow

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 12, 2023

Lukas Dhont is becoming a force to be reckoned with, as with each feature he grows – his work feels more mature and personal as it continues to work.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jun 26, 2023

It is a film that celebrates sensitivity, even as it breaks our hearts at how sudden and irreparable the consequences of that sensitivity can be.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 12, 2023

What happens when a longtime friendship just … stops? That’s the thoughtful, shattering question at the heart of “Close,” one of the best movies about childhood in a long time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 23, 2023

In his second film — the Oscar-nominated Close — Lukas Dhont takes an unobtrusive look at childhood friendship, before seemingly getting bored by his own passivity and yanking the narrative away from his characters.

Full Review | Apr 21, 2023

For all its perceptiveness about the turbulence of youth and the painful rites of passage that mark growing up however, the film is not without its blind spots.

Full Review | Apr 21, 2023

A nuanced portrait of boyhood as dynamics shift between two adolescent friends at the start of a new school year.

Full Review | Mar 24, 2023

Close is a gorgeous but broken heart of a movie that gives an authentic voice to lived childhood trauma. With a remarkable child star at its centre, this cements Dhont as a real presence in European cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 21, 2023

A very moving film. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Mar 20, 2023

Loose camerawork from Frank van den Eeden enhances the intimate, raw spirit.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 17, 2023