I Killed my Mother (J'ai tué ma mère)

NOW ONLY AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX DVD. Thank God for the Mommy issues of Xavier Dolan. It made him the artistic whiner he is today, giving us miraculous works, such as the youthful, angsty I Killed My Mother.
 
One by one, the 26 year old director/actor cranks out a seemingly infinite number of impassioned pieces that deal with the nuances of everyday relationships. In the most recent Dolan film added to Netflix, we explore the form of mother in her many roles.
 
His third feature can be seen as a prequel to his latest and most widely know film, Mommy. Xavier Dolan is Hubert Minel, an impulsive 17 year old who hates nothing more than his mother (Anne Dorval). To him, she is captor, Madonna, demon, and a few other things even he can not understand.
 
What’s interesting about this film is that on the surface it can seem like a hate piece. Through Hubert’s character, however, we are illuminated by the complicated nature of family. Hubert is plagued by the paradoxical feeling of hating, needing, and loving his mother all at the same time. Something everyone can relate to, especially in adolescence. As he keeps telling himself, it’s not that he doesn’t love his mother, but he could think of a hundred people he loves more than her.
 
Free from any convention in his audacious, off-beat camera work - that you will either praise or despise - I killed my mother never feels like show off as the crude dialog and psychologically violent scenes keep the movie in a tragic reality. Watching this in-depth nuanced, and honest coming-of-age story, you will be surprise to know that Xavier Dolan was only 19 when he completed this darkly humorous and insightful work of art. 

Nicole Eicholtz

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