 A film in three minutes, close. Here's a thought experiment. Who was your first true friend? Not a person you knew communally from a shared activity or school, but your first kindred spirit, the missing piece that made up who you were. Got someone in mind? Now ask yourself, why are they no longer in your life? What trauma or conflict pushed them away? What fear of the unknown separated you both? Did you abandon them and still feel guilt about it? Or did they somehow hurt you? Did the death of this friendship make you feel stronger in your identity or simply better at hiding your pain? And most importantly of all, do you still carry that pain now? Lukas Dans' 2022 award-winning drama Close is a beautiful examination of such complex friendships with a thematic message that is as haunting as it is heartbreaking and features two lead performances that will stay with you for years to come. Set in rural Belgium, the story follows the intense friendship of Leo and Remi, two 13-year-olds at the cusp of their adolescence who begin their first year at high school. When both boys are openly asked if they're a couple, Leo's immediate reaction is to deny it, whereas Remi stays silent. However, the increasing suspicion over the nature of the two friends' relationship causes Leo to deliberately push Remi away, leading to a confrontation, the aftershocks of which will change their lives forever. Director Dans' began development of the script with writing partner Angelo Tearsons after reading the book Deep Secrets, Boys' Friendships and the Crisis of Connection by Naiobi Wei, whose research explores the methods young boys use to navigate and maintain friendships into adult's life and how cultural and stereotypical expectations surrounding masculinity make it difficult for adolescent men to express their emotions and form close bonds with one another. Dant explores this psychology by constructing a narrative that can be interpreted as both a touching coming-of-age gay drama but also, and I think more importantly, as a devastating indictment of such toxic societal expectations and the high-price young men pay to live up to them. The performances from newcomers Aidan Dambreen and Gustav Diwali are superb, naturally conveying a beautiful innocence that slowly begins to take on a much darker hue as unhealthy societal norms creep in, a darkness that forces us to stop and consider the real tragic quality of the lived male experience and, how so often, men hide their true selves and feelings from one another. Just as it was for Leo, just as it is for countless other young men attempting to find their identity and indeed be able to maintain personal, sensitive friendships without fear of ridicule, to be accepted by our peers, to be loved, to be, in one word, close.