Who By Fire
KimStim
•
2h 35m
Directed by Philippe Lesage • Drama • With Arieh Worthalter, Paul Ahmarani, Noah Parker, Aurélia Arandi-Longpré • 2024 • 155 minutes
A getaway at a secluded log cabin in the forest becomes the site of escalating, multigenerational tensions and anxieties in this disquieting, impeccably mounted coming-of-age drama from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage. Ostensibly a merry reunion between well-known film director Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter, 2024 César winner for Best Actor for The Goldman Case) and his longtime friend and former collaborator Albert Gary (Paul Ahmarani), the vacation gradually becomes something far more complex, especially with the combustible mix of Albert’s teen son’s best friend, Jeff (Noah Parker), and Albert’s self-asserting daughter Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré). Long-simmering middle-aged resentments surface, set against the anxieties of the young, all captured sensitively by Lesage, who has proven unparalleled in evoking the psychological contours of teenagers finding their way through tough emotional landscapes.
WHO BY FIRE confirms Lesage as a major contemporary filmmaker.
Up Next in KimStim
-
Winter Brothers
Directed by Hlynur Pálmason • Drama • With Elliott Crosset Hove, Simon Sears, Victoria Carmen Sonne • 2017 • 94 minutes
An odyssey set in a rural chalk-mining community during a cold winter. We follow two brothers working in this harsh environment focusing on the younger one, Emil, who distills ...
-
Wood and Water
Directed by Jonas Bak • Drama • With Anke Bak, Patrick Lo • 2021 • 79 minutes
With seamless grace, shooting on 16 mm, and underscored by a soundtrack from Brian Eno, German director Jonas Bak moves from the tall spires of the Black Forest to the teeming skyscrapers of Hong Kong in his tranquil, ...
-
The Wolf House
Directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña • Animation • 2018 • 72 minutes
Maria, a young woman finds refuge in a house in the south of Chile after escaping from a sect of German religious fanatics. She is welcomed into the home by two pigs, the only inhabitants of the place. Like in a dream,...
