14/24
Chronology
Armand, a 6-year-old boy, is accused of trespassing against his best friend in elementary school. Norway’s official bid for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. I understand why the film won the Camera d’Or at Cannes 2024, but for the love of my life, I couldn’t watch the film after the middle. A single celebrity mother is summoned to her son’s school by an incompetent teacher and administrator to discuss an incident involving her son and his friend. It’s a great premise, and Armand has caught my eye, thanks in part to the gorgeous opening shot and overall camera work up to this point. But then the film goes into self-indulgent territory, and I still don’t understand what the director had in mind, with a mix of sharp dance scenes and an actor laughing for 3 minutes straight. That’s where it all started, and since then it’s been so depressing that it will never get better. (Screened at the MAMI Film Festival in Mumbai in 2024.)
