Close to You Reviews (original) (raw)

Summary Sam (Elliot Page), who moved to Toronto from his small town on Lake Ontario, Canada finally decides to return home to visit his family for his dad’s birthday. On his journey, he has a chance encounter with a friend from high school (Hillary Baack) that sparks old feelings. It is on this trip that Sam can finally confront long-buried feel...

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Summary Sam (Elliot Page), who moved to Toronto from his small town on Lake Ontario, Canada finally decides to return home to visit his family for his dad’s birthday. On his journey, he has a chance encounter with a friend from high school (Hillary Baack) that sparks old feelings. It is on this trip that Sam can finally confront long-buried feel...

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Top Cast

31% Positive
5 Reviews

69% Mixed
11 Reviews

0% Negative
0 Reviews

31% Positive
5 Reviews

69% Mixed
11 Reviews

0% Negative
0 Reviews

Close To You is ultra-real, ultra-important, ultra-fascinating, and ultra-recommended.

Page’s performance isn’t moving merely for whatever parallels it might hold to his life: Rather, it’s a reminder of what a deft and perceptive actor he can be, capable of both naked emotional candor and acidic wit — both assets to a script that sometimes errs on the side of caution.

Page shines bright in an otherwise formulaic story, but this is still a thoughtful, sensitive portrait of a young man coming to terms with his sense of self and the love he deserves.

While we understand Sam’s back story and present situation, we too rarely get a sense of who he is when not struggling against misunderstanding and harsh weather.

As attentive as Close to You is to family dynamics, its dialogue, which the actors largely improvised, rarely achieves verisimilitude.

All through the scattered experience, Page is a shining light. Every move he makes gives the film something greater that it is never able to grasp.

As a movie, Close to You feels too unfocused, a major win and a welcome return for Page yet an opportunity squandered.

60% Positive
6 Ratings

10% Mixed
1 Rating

30% Negative
3 Ratings

60% Positive
6 Ratings

10% Mixed
1 Rating

30% Negative
3 Ratings

As a trans woman, I can't say enough about how great this movie is. I so appreciate the depth, complexity, and subtlety it brings to the experience of coming out as trans later in life to family and old friends.

Production Company Kindred Spirit, Rolling Dice, Mongrel Media, Me + You Productions, Good Question Media, Pageboy Productions

Release Date Aug 16, 2024

Duration 1 h 40 m

Rating R

Calgary International Film Festival

• 1 Win & 2 Nominations

Cinéfest Sudbury

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

Vancouver Film Critics Circle