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Of an Age, 2022
Kol (Elias Anton) is a recent high school graduate who wakes up to a frantic call from his good friend Ebony (Hattie Hook), his partner for a dance competition. Ebony got trashed and is stranded in the middle of nowhere without her costume or a ride. Already walking a fine line with both their parents, Kol is able to get a ride with Ebony’s brother, Adam (Thom Green), to retrieve Ebony. On the ride, Adam and Kol strike up a flirty relationship that carries through the rest of the day and into the night.
Lovable characters and a bittersweet love story make this an unforgettable tale of longing and first love..
As I watched this film, I kept finding myself comparing it (in a nice way) to Moonlight. I was a bit wary about writing that down, because I think that it would be easy to take that comparison in a very superficial way. Both films feature a young gay man who faces bias due to his sexuality and his race/ethnicity. But what I actually mean when I compare the two---and, yes, they do have some similarities in terms of their main characters--is that both films have this magical, melancholic way of capturing how a single moment or relationship can sear itself into your mind.
This sense of a moment in time fits perfectly with the way that the events unfold in front of us. For the first half of the film, much of the action is restricted to Adam’s car. Kol and Adam have a cautious, building conversation consisting largely of sidelong glances at each other. Then there’s the time constraint, in that the film takes place within a single day. But rather than feel as if the characters are boxed in, the movie has the quality of memory, in which the physical and temporal constraints act as frames, not walls.
Anton, playing Kol, really embodies this young man who suddenly finds a spark and a sense of hope. We see that being mocked about his sexuality is nothing new. When he goes to a house party with Ebony, hoping to run into Adam, a trio of young women at the party openly speak down to him, referencing his Slavic family. For Kol, Adam seems almost downright mythical: not only does he like Kol, not care about his ethnicity, etc, he shares interests in movies, books, and music.
Green, for his part, is very solid as Adam. Adam is older than Kol and Ebony. They are maybe 17 or 18, while Adam is in his early 20s. A small difference in years, but a big one in terms of maturity and a sense of self. Where Kol’s shyness comes from meeting someone mature and cool, Adam’s hesitation seems to come from the opposite direction. This is his little sister’s friend, and on Adam’s part there is this sense of not wanting to overstep a boundary. And so they spend much of the film, each clearly longing for the other to give the first overt sign of interest or make the first real move. There’s something incredibly sweet about watching these two people who clearly have chemistry and affection for one another dance around each other, highly tuned to every word, gesture, or facial expression from the other person.
I’d like to stay vague in talking about the last act of the film. The first two-thirds all takes place in a single day, while the last act shows us what happens in the future between the two characters in the context of attending Ebony’s wedding.. So without getting into any specifics, the way that what unfolds is sewn with echoes and reversals and parallels to the first two-thirds is pretty incredible, and given the emotional weight of that moment in time, everything that comes around again in the last act hits twice as hard.
Overall I thought that this was just a lovely film. Yes, the main characters are gay, but I think that anyone can relate to having had an encounter with someone that settled in your heart and gave you a new sense of the possibility of what your life could be and what kind of love you could receive and be worthy of. No complaints (though boy is Ebony annoying!), and just a lovely film that manages to pack punches all the way to the end credit.
Of an Age, 2022
Kol (Elias Anton) is a recent high school graduate who wakes up to a frantic call from his good friend Ebony (Hattie Hook), his partner for a dance competition. Ebony got trashed and is stranded in the middle of nowhere without her costume or a ride. Already walking a fine line with both their parents, Kol is able to get a ride with Ebony’s brother, Adam (Thom Green), to retrieve Ebony. On the ride, Adam and Kol strike up a flirty relationship that carries through the rest of the day and into the night.
Lovable characters and a bittersweet love story make this an unforgettable tale of longing and first love..
As I watched this film, I kept finding myself comparing it (in a nice way) to Moonlight. I was a bit wary about writing that down, because I think that it would be easy to take that comparison in a very superficial way. Both films feature a young gay man who faces bias due to his sexuality and his race/ethnicity. But what I actually mean when I compare the two---and, yes, they do have some similarities in terms of their main characters--is that both films have this magical, melancholic way of capturing how a single moment or relationship can sear itself into your mind.
This sense of a moment in time fits perfectly with the way that the events unfold in front of us. For the first half of the film, much of the action is restricted to Adam’s car. Kol and Adam have a cautious, building conversation consisting largely of sidelong glances at each other. Then there’s the time constraint, in that the film takes place within a single day. But rather than feel as if the characters are boxed in, the movie has the quality of memory, in which the physical and temporal constraints act as frames, not walls.
Anton, playing Kol, really embodies this young man who suddenly finds a spark and a sense of hope. We see that being mocked about his sexuality is nothing new. When he goes to a house party with Ebony, hoping to run into Adam, a trio of young women at the party openly speak down to him, referencing his Slavic family. For Kol, Adam seems almost downright mythical: not only does he like Kol, not care about his ethnicity, etc, he shares interests in movies, books, and music.
Green, for his part, is very solid as Adam. Adam is older than Kol and Ebony. They are maybe 17 or 18, while Adam is in his early 20s. A small difference in years, but a big one in terms of maturity and a sense of self. Where Kol’s shyness comes from meeting someone mature and cool, Adam’s hesitation seems to come from the opposite direction. This is his little sister’s friend, and on Adam’s part there is this sense of not wanting to overstep a boundary. And so they spend much of the film, each clearly longing for the other to give the first overt sign of interest or make the first real move. There’s something incredibly sweet about watching these two people who clearly have chemistry and affection for one another dance around each other, highly tuned to every word, gesture, or facial expression from the other person.
I’d like to stay vague in talking about the last act of the film. The first two-thirds all takes place in a single day, while the last act shows us what happens in the future between the two characters in the context of attending Ebony’s wedding.. So without getting into any specifics, the way that what unfolds is sewn with echoes and reversals and parallels to the first two-thirds is pretty incredible, and given the emotional weight of that moment in time, everything that comes around again in the last act hits twice as hard.
Overall I thought that this was just a lovely film. Yes, the main characters are gay, but I think that anyone can relate to having had an encounter with someone that settled in your heart and gave you a new sense of the possibility of what your life could be and what kind of love you could receive and be worthy of. No complaints (though boy is Ebony annoying!), and just a lovely film that manages to pack punches all the way to the end credit.