While we continue to remain truly puzzled as to why Xavier Dolan's gorgeous, sprawling and lovely "Laurence Anyways" is continously unable to secure a U.S. distribution deal, the young filmmaker left Toronto with a prize under his arm. His latest film took home the Best Canadian Feature Film from TIFF, and as usual, Dolan is plowing ahead on his next project. This spring it was announced he would tackling the adaptation of the play "Tom a la Ferme," but after that he's got some big plans. Very big plans.
Confirming he will star in 'Ferme,' Dolan lays out what his calendar will look like for the next few years to The Globe And Mail. "In my next film, yes. It’s a psychological thriller set on a farm in Quebec, with a consenting hostage. I’m the hostage," he said. "I’m also working on a series of six [shorter] films, a hexalogue, called 'Ordinary People,' in which I will act. That will be done by 2013, and by 2015 I should be ready to tackle the American beast."
While the last sentence might be a bit unclear, from what we understand it's 'Ferme' that will be done by next year, while "Oridinary People" will follow a couple of years later. From the grapevine we've heard that the movie is still at script stage, but it's typically ambitoius fare from Dolan. And no, it's not a remake of Robert Redford's 1980 drama (though, that would be interesting too).
And just as a reminder, 'Ferme' tells the story of Tom, who is in the grip of grief and depression following the death of his lover. When he meets the family of the deceased, it is revealed the mother was not aware of her son's sexual orientation, or his relationship with Tom either, for that matter. As Tom struggles over whether to keep the truth hidden or reveal all, he is threatened by the brother in the family with grave repercussions if the truth is not concealed forever.
So lots on the horizon from Dolan, who shows no signs of slowing down.
Maybe it hasn't recieved American distribution due to being an overwrought pretentious piece of crap. After seeing close to thirty films at TIFF this past year this has to be one of the worst that I sat through. It's beyond surprising to me to find out a jury would award this film the best of Canadian film at TIFF. I can only assume jury politics. I have yet to find someone that honestly liked this film beyond reviews or people connected with him (of which I know several). There seems to be some kind of fear of his influence.