I Am Jonas (2018)
When Jonas was 14 he met the charismatic but mysterious Nathan. In addition to guiding him in his sexuality, Jonas soon confronts something dark and even dangerous about his new friend. Now an attractive, sexually assured adult, memories still haunt him. Trying frantically to put the missing pieces together, Jonas becomes determined to break the shackles of the past and finally set himself free.
- Christophe Charrier
- Christophe Charrier
Rating: 6.7/10 by 248 users
Alternative Title:
Boys - GB
Jonas - FR
I Am Jonas - AU
Jonas ジョナス - JP
男儿旧情 - CN
拿爱线索 - CN
Жонас - RU
Country:
France
Language:
Français
Runtime: 01 hour 22 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0
Plot Keyword: homophobia, male homosexuality, lgbt, gay youth, gay theme
This is quite a well put together little drama recounting the life of "Jonas" through the twin threads of his late childhood and of a current day thirty-something. Félix Maritaud plays the elder incarnation in a typically gritty and plausible way (though he does look like he could do with a good meal!) with Nicolas Bauwens as his younger, largely conformist, self. My problem is that the narrative that gets us from person A to person B - via a new schoolfriend "Nathan" doesn't quite work. There is an incident, which we do discover at the end, but it leaves me with a feeling of incompleteness. Perhaps that's Christophe Charrier's plan - that there are no "happy endings", but I am struggling to fathom just how Jonas got onto this path of self destruction and his life, so out of hand in the first place. As with loads of French gay cinema, it is filmed at night - via street light - and is all the more evocative for that.
