I Killed My Mother/J'ai Tué Ma Mère (2009) - Dolan's debut is a striking teen rebel siege for the ages

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year 
+ Best Canadian Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year (Xavier Dolan) + Sexiest Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year

A wild head of adolescent hair sits in a sea of panicky yellow under the ominous title for Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother

Mommy Chantale lives with her 16 year-old son Hubert alone in a Montreal suburb, but the boy's intense protests against her make the rift between them grow and grow.

20 year-old Canadian writer-director-star Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats/Les Amours Imaginaires (2010)) makes one of the strongest and most persuasive debuts to date with I Killed My Mother, entering the cinema annals as a crystal clear shooting star. And for those who may have doubts about watching this based on its title, let me make it clear that this youth romance drama isn't about actual criminal matricide.
I Killed My Mother is rich on ideas, poetic and visual treats and an undeniable aesthetic sense for beauty. The film has good cinematography by Stéphanie Anne Weber Biron (Blackbird (2012)), and Dolan and Anne Dorval (Mommy (2014)) are powerful as the (putting it mildly) tension-fraught mother-son couple. Dolan's engagement in the film's meaty theme has a personal intensity to it, (the story is semi-autobiographical), dealing with rebelling against and separating from one's mother as well as the difficulties of being a homosexual teenager.
I fell head over heels in love with I Killed My Mother and had to watch it again. I've since reaffirmed that it stands the test of time and revisits. It hits the bull's eye in a way only extremely few debut films manage to do. A both very tender and very volatile work of deep meaning.

Related posts:

Xavier Dolan: Top 10: Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   
Mommy (2014) - Dolan has outdone himself and orchestrated the (probably) best film of the year
Tom at the Farm/Tom à la Ferme (2013) - Intense, eerie sub/dom-themed sex thriller (without sex)
Laurence Anyways (2012) - Dolan serves a stylish, jumbled, massive transsexualism tale 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Heartbeats/Les Amours Imaginaires (2010) - Dolan's second is the year's guilty pleasure #1

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 0.8 CAD, or approximately 0.636 mil. $
Box office: 394k CAD (Canada only), or approximately 0.313 mil. $
= Uncertain
[I Killed My Mother premiered 18 May (Cannes) and runs 96 minutes. Dolan wrote the script when he was 16. Financing was supported with 0.4 mil. CAD from SODEC, which Dolan later called "an obsolete financing mechanism". Filming took place in Dolan's native Québec, Canada, including in Montreal. The film premiered to an 8-minute standing ovation in Cannes, where it won 3 side competition prizes. The film was mostly screened at a long row of festivals, but also enjoyed small releases in countries like Russia and Turkey. It was released in 12 cinemas in Québec and 60 in France, but its grosses from countries besides Canada are regrettably not released. The film was also nominated for a César Award (France's Oscar), and was Canada's official Oscar entry of the year, although it was not nominated. I Killed My Mother is fresh at 81 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Killed My Mother?

Mommy (2014) - Dolan outdoes himself with (probably) best film of the year

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Youth Movie of the Year + Best Canadian Movie of the Year 

The simple but lovely poster for Xavier Dolan's Mommy

Mommy is the 5th feature film by just 26 year-old Canadian wunderkind director Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats/Les Amours Imaginaires (2010)), which rocked Cannes Film Festival nearly a year ago and won the Jury Prize there.

Diane 'Die' is a struggling single mother, whose teenage son Steve's behavioral problems are the major center of her life. While they both befriend their new neighbor Kyla, the consequences of Steve's actions begin to stack up against them.

Dolan has cast three splendid actors in the pivotal main parts, all of whom he has worked with before:
Anne Dorval (I Killed My Mother/J'ai Tué ma Mère (2009)) as Die, Antoine-Olivier Pilon (Indochine: College Boy (2013) video short) as the often out of control Steve and Suzanne Clément (Laurence Anyways (2012)) as Kyla are all three luminous, animated, and never out of character.
The film is, besides two sequences in wide-screen, shot in the highly unusual 1:1 ratio, a very slim screen, and abounds with close-ups. So much more impressive is the feat of the actors and director. As with many of the other bountiful details of Mommy, the ratio also has a point; as encapsulated and inhibited as these people's stressful lives are, as distinct and - mostly - far removed from the audience's, watching them, - as square, restricted and distinct is the presentation of them that we receive.
The cinematic language is utilized seamlessly and with a master's knowledge of the many subtle effects used to get inside these people's lives. Cinematographer André Turpin (Tom at the Farm/Tom à la Ferme (2013)) deserves praise, as does Noia (Laurence Anyways) for the immersive score created for the film, which also cements its deeply lyrical quality with several memorable scenes with original songs by artists like Celine Dion, Dido, Oasis, Andrea Bocelli and Lana Del Rey.
Finally, the film exudes Dolan's inescapable, lush sense of style, as all of his films does, through the costumes that he has again designed himself with incredible talent. 

Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon and Suzanne Clément, a trio of transcendent actors in Xavier Dolan's Mommy

Mommy is an emotionally swelling, operatic tour-de-force, which confidently believes the charms and dramatic strengths of its few characters, as the story bounces ahead towards an end that is omened by the prologue. It is an almost monolithic work about motherly love, struggle, humiliation, and occasional freedom, open to interpretation; - for some sad, for others uplifting. - For all, I should think, it will stand out as a film that is pulsating life, troublesome as it certainly is in this case.
Mommy also stands as an interesting case to measure up against for families with kids with perceived ADD and ADHD disorders, - and for anyone who has or has ever been in a family, it makes a kind of mirroring effect almost inevitable.
Mommy may be Dolan's best film yet, although I also count his wild debut (I Killed My Mother) a masterpiece. Mommy is certainly his biggest hit and most accomplished film yet.

Related posts:

Xavier Dolan: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] Tom at the Farm/Tom à la Ferme (2013) - Intense, eerie sub/dom-themed sex thriller (without sex)
Laurence Anyways (2012) - Dolan serves a stylish, jumbled, massive transsexualism tale

Anne Dorval is truly unforgettable as Diane 'Die', or Xavier Dolan's title Mommy

Watch the trailer for Mommy here

Budget: 4.9 mil. $
Box office: 12.8 mil. $ and counting
= Box office success
[Mommy is Dolan's biggest film commercially yet, and perhaps his first commercially successful strictly speaking. It has made 3.8 mil. $ (30 % of the total gross) in the US. It was Canada's official Oscar entry this year, but was, almost blasphemously, not nominated. It has won a bunch of Canadian and other awards though.]

What do you think of Mommy?
Is it Dolan's best film yet in your opinion?