I Killed My Mother April 21, 2010

No mothers are murdered during the course of this semi-autobiographical family smackdown, but teenage protagonist Hubert does sometimes tell people that his mom is deceased. Played by 21-year-old writer-director Xavier Dolan, Hubert is a gay high school student whose relationship with mama (Quebec cinema veteran Anne Dorval) is as over-the-top as a Lady Gaga concert. He hates her, yet he loves her. Hubert wants to move out, but demonstrates his displeasure when she decides to send him to boarding school by writing an essay with the same title as the film. Meanwhile, boyfriend Antonin's mother is the coolest in the world, or at least Montreal. Dolan folds dream sequences, wish-fulfillment fantasies, and home video testimonies into his study of a relationship that’s unbearable yet irrevocable. Canada’s candidate for 2009’s foreign-film Oscar®, I Killed my Mother overflows with both style and emotion.

In French with English subtitles

Canada, 2009, 100 minutes, Color and Black & White

Official Website: http://filmfestdc.org/filmView.cfm?passID=50