Elliot Page stars in Close to You from director Dominic Savage, returning to film roles following his transition. Page plays Sam, a trans man living in Toronto who travels to his family home in Cobourg for his father’s birthday. It’s Sam’s first visit in four years, since transitioning and starting a new life in the big city.
On the train, Sam reconnects with Katherine, a friend from high school with whom he shares a history. Their complicated feelings surface again, despite their different paths. Arriving home, Sam braces for an awkward reunion. His parents and one sister seem supportive, but the tensions simmer below the surface.
During the birthday dinner, microaggressions and misunderstandings boil over. Sam clashes with a judgmental brother-in-law while defending his choices. A powerful scene erupts as years of feelings spill out. Sam wonders if he’ll ever feel truly accepted by people who haven’t made an effort to understand his experience.
Away from the family drama, Sam’s growing closeness to Katherine offers a softer story. But questions remain about where their rekindled connection may lead and whether Sam can find a sense of belonging among those linked to his past. Through it all, Elliot Page delivers a raw and emotionally impactful performance in this intimate drama of a prodigal son returning home.
Bringing Sam to Life
Stepping back into film for the first time since announcing his transition, Elliot Page delivers a truly standout performance in Close to You. Any viewers who’ve missed Page on screen are in for a treat, as he reminds us what a powerful, nuanced actor he is. At the story’s heart, Sam navigates complex relationships and self-discovery with striking vulnerability.
Page immerses himself completely in Sam, laying bare a full spectrum of emotion. From nervy coffee-clutching scenes to powerful, raging confrontations, his acting always feels raw and rooted in a truth beyond the script. Sam experiences warmth and empathy alongside hostility, confronting tricky conversations with family. Through it all, Page communicates Sam’s inner journey authentically.
The camera’s close focus on Page’s face magnifies what he conveys through subtle glances or taut muscles. Even fleeting expressions tell Sam’s internal narrative, the past lingering in his guarded but yearning eyes. Whether shielding himself or opening up, we grasp Sam’s every thought intimately through Page’s embodiment. His talent shines through imperfect dialogue to keep us deeply invested.
Clearly drawing from his own transition, Page brings a lived-in understanding. Sam’s complex feelings resonate profoundly, from ambivalence about acceptance to unease over his family’s inquiries. This lends Close to You’s discussions lasting emotional truths. Though fiction, Sam feels fully realized as a trans character navigating loved ones after years of separation.
Stepping boldly into starring roles post-transition, Page proves what a revelation he remains. Close to You highlights his innate skills of carrying intimacy and nuance with the utmost sensitivity. Sam’s journey moves as Page’s tour-de-force performance anchors this compelling family drama.
Tightrope Directing
Filmmaker Dominic Savage takes a ropewalk approach with Close to You, engineering improvised scenes that can soar or stumble. His signature style lets actors freely explore dialogue yet risks rambling exchanges over a firm dramatic structure.
The improvised method served Sam’s prickly family reunion well. Frazzled talks feel raw as family members tiptoe around past mistakes. But when focusing on Sam’s rekindled romance, unscripted lines often meander aimlessly. Their blossoming connection deserves guidance to blossom, not wilt.
Without carefully crafting character arcs, loose improv allows truths to surface yet limits narrative momentum. Family tensions burst forth organically in blazing rows. But Sam and Katherine’s history gets bogged down, plodding through repeated questions instead of progressing their bond.
Strong guiding hands steer improv from stuttering to sparking. But by relinquishing control, some interactions lack dramatic spark. Raw talent like Page can salvage such scenes, but less experienced co-stars flounder without structure. And viewers risk losing the thread.
At its best, Savage’s approach taps into actors’ intuition, finding nuances scripted dialogue misses. But balancing creative freedom with surefooted storytelling proves a high-wire act. With practiced precision, improv enhances realism. But restraint serves clarity when complexity risks coherence. A deftly balanced hand improves upon an ambitious, complex exploration of family and identity.
Navigating Complicated Kin
Family gatherings tend toward chaos more often than calm. Nowhere is this truer than Sam’s return home in Close to You. His welcoming party kicks off pleasantly enough, but strains linger beneath polite smiles.
Sam senses his mother’s love mixing with a lingering lack of understanding. Small slips, like wrong pronouns, strike deep. Dad seems most at ease with Sam’s new life. Yet sisters probe happiness in ways that feel less like care than critique.
Bubbling tensions spill during a skirmish with his brother-in-law, Paul. Sam faces open hostility where before he lived veiled disrespect. His fiery response unleashes years of pain, finally speaking hard truths. Dad’s impassioned words defending Sam ring cathartic, but come late; trouble has already surfaced.
Complex family dynamics shine through in these fraught scenes. Parents struggle to accept changes in the child they know. Siblings stew in their own processing, supportive words not matching inner turmoil. Sam remains understandably defensive, his loyalty tested by ambiguous gestures of care.
Director Savage spotlights subtleties rippling beneath surface civility. Microagressions, from misgendering mistakes to probing questions, chip away at Sam’s hard-won self-assurance. Only with claws bared do the film’s real issues come to light. Sam finds few willing to understand him, rather than who they need him to be.
Nuanced performances bring fractured relationships to emotive life. Tensions burst forth, raw and human, divulging deeper pains left unspoken. Sam learns hard-fought peace remains fragile among shifting family ground. Finding acceptance proves a winding journey, even with blood ties tethering comfort and complication in knotted entanglement.
Patchwork Romance
Amid turbulent family drama, Sam finds solace in a familiar face from years past. Meeting Katherine on the train stirs nostalgia for simpler times. Yet their lively chat hints at feelings surviving the years apart.
Reconnecting in their small town, a spark rekindles. Shared glances speak louder than words to hearts longing for what once was. But this romance gets short shrift in Close to You’s improvised storytelling.
While the pair radiates attraction, their dialogue delivers little character. We learn scant details of their past bond or her present predicament. Without insight into these souls, the present-day dilemma feels detached from real lives.
Sweet moments touch on youthful exploits and silent understanding. But conversation drifts aimlessly once familial conflict fades from the scene. Lacking a dramatic anchor, their rekindled romance drifts similarly.
Without foundation in these figures’ memorable histories or current emotional landscapes, scenes boil down to aesthetic gesture. Intense stares and light touches stir sympathy, yet the story provides a flimsy framework to hang profound feelings.
Patching romance onto family drama, Close to You leaves frayed edges. Perhaps improv struggled with weaving two threads into a cohesive tapestry. Or more intentional writing could have anchored loose ends to fulfill this relationship’s narrative potential.
As is, Katherine and Sam’s subplot serves mostly as a respite from family frustrations. Beauty exists between them nonetheless, even if their moving love story remains a lovely but incomplete piece in Close to You’s cinematic quilt.
Fragments of Truth
Close to You shines a light on poignant issues yet presents them in fragments. Sam’s journey highlights the outsider feeling many trans folk face in families—that unspoken disconnect no platitudes can erase. His defensiveness about independent life touches on universal experiences, too.
Several scenes emotionally land thanks to Page’s skills. Conversations pack potent punches when prejudice arises or Sam lashes fatigue over forever justifying himself. We grasp his perseverance in supporting others despite our own scars. But story threads feel prematurely cut, leaving gaps.
Sam and Katherine’s rekindled romance exemplifies this. Their magnetism draws us in yet leaves fundamental questions unmet. Without grasping their history’s depth, present dynamics feel superficial.
Even the family falls flat at times. Realism proves a double-edged sword, as improv yields stilted exchanges monthly wouldn’t utter. Tighter focus on a few key conflicts could have resonated stronger.
Overall, Close to You spreads too thin, with underwritten portions contrasting poignant peaks. Yet through its fragments, we glimpse trans realities and recognize unity in our varied experiences of acceptance and pursuit. And in Page’s vulnerable performance, a gift is found—one face among many deserving representation and understanding.
Though unfinished, Close to You may spark insightful chats to bring us closer together despite our differences. For in recognizing fragments of our shared truths, perhaps whole truths can form.
A Ray of Light
Elliot Page delivers a performance that alone makes Close to You worth seeing. As Sam navigates family ties and buried feelings, Page brings raw vulnerability and strength in equal measure. His nuanced portrayal rings true, crafting a character we thoroughly believe in.
Perhaps tighter focus could have amplified the film’s impact. Scenes examining Sam and family dynamics shine brightest, yet overlong exchanges lessen their punch. With streamlining, these moments may have resonated longer, driving home issues of acceptance many face.
Still Close to You highlights the importance of LGBTQ+ representation. Merely giving a platform to Sam’s story holds value, opening discussion on challenges trans folks often brave with loved ones. And in showing Sam and Katherine’s rekindled bond, a ray of hope emerges.
Not all narrative threads are fully formed, leaving some hoping for more. But the kernel of truth within—seeking and finding oneself, irrespective of others’ views—offers solace. Like Sam tentatively rebuilding bridges once broken, Close to You takes steps toward greater understanding, even if, with effort and empathy shared, maybe the next show will bring us closer still.
The Review
Close to You
Close to You reveals raw acting talents and probes real issues, yet uneven storytelling dilutes impact. While highlighting trans experiences and serving as a vehicle for Elliot Page's nuanced performance, lapses in focus diminish resonance. Still, the film starts important conversations and shines a light where representation is needed.
PROS
- Elliot Page gives a profoundly moving lead performance.
- Opens discussion on the challenges of family acceptance and LGBTQ+ issues.
- Highlights of underrepresented trans experiences
- Sensitively exploring reconnecting with one's identity
CONS
- The narrative fails to fully develop some characters and subplots.
- Uneven pacing could be tighter with improved focus.
- Dialogue occasionally feels stilted or unrefined.
- Storytelling coherence diminishes in the second half.
