Is someone who is different from the crowd to be crucified? All who do not follow the trodden herd path remain condemned by this herd. Why does Antoine-Olivier Pylon's character say "thank you" at the very end of this short film?
Language does not turn to call this music video just a clip. This is definitely a film that puts the soul of director Xavier Dolan into it. Let the composition College boy is a recognition of the young man in carnal love is not very consistent with the plot of the video. Still, the guy sings about the fact that it is not easy to be among such people, so you can assume that the history of the video and the song still have intersections.
Dolan decides to show a very common theme of youthful cruelty, ambitiously using the biblical plot. The remake of the crucifixion of Christ is quite appropriate, society is godless, it prefers to close its eyes to things that they cannot understand and solve. Children throw scraps of paper at the main character. People around create atrocities blindfolded, filming on phones. Young sadists use guns in the schoolyard, mocking the victim with a cigarette in his teeth. The guards of order, as well as the whole society with blindfolds in front of their eyes, beat the taser not at the criminal, but at the victim, thereby lighting a garland on a half-dead body crucified on the cross as on a tree, which symbolizes the victory of evil over good. These hyperbolic techniques are used by the director in order to convey the essence to the callous viewer. This black-and-white film is shot in 1:1 format, which hints at the framework that society sets for us. It was, is and will always be, unfortunately.
In the final seconds of the film, the hero of this story says “thank you.” He is grateful for his release from life among such people.
Indochine is not just a rock band in France. Indochine is a whole era in the musical culture of this country. Organized back in 1981 by the brothers Nicolas and Stefan Sirkis and their friends Dominic Nicolas and Dimitri Bodjanski, Indochine immediately broke into the musical Olympus with the hit L’Aventurier, which was filmed a very unusual visual clip, and the song itself became the hallmark of the group and still, even though more than thirty years have passed, no concert is complete without it. In the following years, the popularity of the group grew, the albums, gradually moving away from the motifs in the manner of Southeast Asia, acquired a heavier sound, the lyrics were written on topical topics, which is the same Les Tzars. In 1988, the band gave concerts in faraway Peru and seemed to have a successful future ahead of them.
It wasn't here. Indochine left Dimitri, and soon for the group came the black years. Their album Un jour dans notre vie sold much worse than the previous ones, the press said that they were outdated and it was time to retire, giving way to the young and fashionable - how hard it was for Nicolas, Stefan and Dominic to hear such reviews, because they were only 35 years old. With the band remained only the most loyal fans, but they could not change the situation. Dominic left Indochine and the official composition of the group was reduced to two Sirkis brothers, who invited temporary members for recordings and performances.
A new blow came as the situation seemed to be beginning to improve. Stefan died suddenly of hepatitis in 1999. The end of Indochine? Dancetaria could have been his last album had it not been for Nicolas’ heroic decision. The band will exist in the memory of Stefan, in the memory of everything that came before. They'll do it, there's no other way, a new century is coming and everything will change. And as if in response to all the misfortunes and sufferings of the previous decade – the album Paradize. From each window sounded J'ai demande a la lune, the band again talked, those who recently blasphemed her and offered to retire now sang praises and admired. It is a pity that Stefan did not live to see this success.
Alice &, June and La Republique Des Meteors followed. But why less successful? The number of copies sold in our age of information technology does not mean absolutely nothing and it would be strange to talk about a decrease in interest if there is nowhere to fall an apple in the stadiums where concerts are held. But Indochine was not going to rest on the laurels of the past, performing at concerts old hits. “We are still young, we still have a lot of plans ahead,” Nicolas, who is already in his sixth decade, said in an interview. And the new album was not long in coming - Black City Parade.
The music video for the second single from College Boy was directed by Xavier Dolan. In the lyrics of the song there is no hint of bullying from peers, rather it is a declaration of love of one boy - inept and carnal. But does the picture have to repeat the words exactly? Back in the 80s, Indochine stopped resorting to the services of clipmakers, preferring to invent the plots of their videos themselves - this time Nicolas and guitarist Oli de Sat came up with this cruel scene with mockery of schoolchildren by peers, and everyone around absolutely does not care. To some extent, this plot resembles the stories of Nicolas himself from the collection Les Mauvaises Nouvelles. The black-and-white picture, the full-format image, this story took place outside of time and space. Isn’t something like this happening in classrooms where there are students who are different from their peers who are bullied and beaten and hated, and teachers turn a blind eye to it, parents don’t care — and the end may not be so tragic, but the analogy is so close and clear that it requires no explanation. It is not for nothing that the video was banned from viewing by minors, although it was highly appreciated by critics.
For the music, for the words, for the voice of Nicolas, for the fact that Indochine continues to please its fans - for everything that has been and will be - only.
100 and lots of zeros out of 10.
After watching all of Xavier Dolan’s films, I couldn’t help but make this young director a favorite. I admire him - his creativity, his style, his language, his stories. In five years of self-actualization, Dolan reached heights that many cannot overcome in a lifetime. But the video for the musical group “Indochina” for the song “Boy from College” personally I can consider the real peak of his abilities, and if you get acquainted with the work of Xavier – it is quite worth starting with a short form, with this clip.
And yet I like their "higher light."
But this light doesn't like me, that's how it is.
And I often get hurt.
When I hear what they say behind my back.
How many movies about school brutality have you seen? Of course, each of them is in one way or another sarcastic and dramatic. We sympathize with the outcasts, attacked by classmates, a fragile human society, living under the law of wolves. In The College Boy, Dolan systematizes all the associations of the subject into one heartbreaking yet lyrical canvas. The ridicule, the hatred, the contempt, the story doesn't end there. We see the boy’s determination, which he is not yet ready to implement. We see his family, which seems to live their own, such a “perfect” and empty life. We see other guys silently closing their eyes (here they are replaced by bandages) on what is happening, as do the police in one of the scenes. But do you think Xavier Dolan will stop? Nope. He'll shake everything out of us. Therefore, after a colorful, uncompromising, vicious beating, he passes from realism to a full grotesque, having a bright religious connotation. And in the end, like a mockery, "Mercy." Blind thanks for the release. Liberation from such a life. Liberation from themselves.
I know it’s hard to be different here.
For these people.
When I have confidence in myself,
A little less vulnerable, everything will improve.
In striking shades and metaphors, the director summarized everything previously said from the topic of school and adolescent cruelty, showed us his vision of the problem as a whole - and did it with maximum efficiency. Once again, Dolan leaves no choice, and I am left to wonder how skillfully this young genius mixes utter hopelessness with saving light. Once again, Xavier is torn apart, but after watching it still does not feel from the series “I wish I hadn’t seen it”. On the contrary, “I am amazed, I want to do it again.” And no matter how many times I watch it, it's still true, it's still perfect. I don't need any more words. “College Boy” (made, incidentally, as “Mommy”, but with the addition of a black and white color), without a doubt, said everything for itself.
10 out of 10
The release of the video clip College Boy ("The Boy from College) of the rock group Indochine ("Indochina), shot very young by directorial standards, but already fondled by the attention of critics and experts Xavier Dolan, literally blew up the Francophone world in May 2013: some voice called for assigning the video to the most adult category and showing it on TV only in the late evenings, others said that there was nothing in the video clips that would be actively released now. I think the second point is closer.
I won't cheat. I became interested in this video because of Dolan, but if the video caught my eye without attribution, I would still say what I will say now: the video is striking, discouraging, catchy, unbalanced not because it shows any deliberate aggression and super-rigidity. This short film scratches the viewer that he can not find an adequate explanation for a few things shown on the screen and is a hypertrophied projection of what is happening among children and adults: 1 why the victim becomes a victim, because of what it happens, as chosen in society, in a closed circle, the victim? 2 Why the victim humbly remains the victim, not trying to stop the hellish agony - to complain / fight back / grab a weapon? 3 Why do people silently watch and try to prevent themselves?
We remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Silence is one of the greatest human mistakes. – Martin Luther King
The third point is the hardest to accept and understand. At the end of the clip, the “rogue”, like “Jesus Christ” is crucified on the Cross. I'm not particularly religious. For me, in this case, the most important thing is that humanity has not changed in the last 2,000 years. The scenes of Christ’s crucifixion are invariably depicted as follows: Jesus is executed under the general cries of approval of the crowd. The only thing missing is the phones in their hands, recording everything that is happening, recording the pain and suffering of another living being. I am sure that those ancient people, if they could, would have taken out their smartphones with great pleasure. I am far from being a model of soft-heartedness and splendor, but for me it is wild to fix flour on film. What moves a person at such moments, and is it a person at all?
It seems to me that the outburst of resentment towards this video is largely due to fear, not the fear that children, having watched these “Dolan atrocities”, will begin to torture their peers and others, but the fear that everything in our world has been happening for a long time, albeit not so hyperbolized. Happens and happened everywhere and at all times: you can remember the Soviet "stuffed", Estonian "Class", the scandalous "School" Germanics. What can you do to remember your experience? In most classes, there were and are “outlaws.” There were two of them in mine, a boy and a girl. To my shame, if I did not support the abusers, but did not interfere with them, I was silent with a bandage in front of my eyes - like the children from this clip.
Here I learn that my life will not be simple.
Among the people.
I will be a stranger to such a measured life.
Alien to these people.
Dolan made a very hard, throwing in a cold sweat, movie. Aesthetically, with a challenge, with a tear. Why should the director say "merci", as the victim of bullying says in the finale of the film? Dolan in 6 minutes of screen time a little mocking the viewer, but it will only benefit us.
10 out of 10
P.S. The video is so cool that I only turned to the music after the fifth viewing. And the composition is very strong.
P.S.S.Antoine-Olivier Pylon is beautiful. It reminds me of Rupert Grint. Now I understand why Pylona chose Dolan for his fifth film.
Tolerance has never been in vogue because of the conflicting beliefs advocated by those who demand it. There has always been a sadist to whom humiliation and insult bring satisfaction, and in some ways self-affirmation, and a victim who became such, not because she wanted to be, but in spite of a banal incident. Canadian director Xavier Dolan showed this in his work - a video for the song of the group Indochine - College boy, where not only sadism and prejudice, but also the view of society from the outside on this problem came together.
Anyway, it is difficult after watching the clip to remain indifferent to its content. We see the problem from the outside and remain indifferent, some follow the newfangled trend and film what is happening with a mobile phone camera. The execution of Jesus would have been filmed, too, if it had been technology.
Why people deserve this kind of treatment (and this (any death) happens everywhere) will forever remain a mystery of primitive human gut.
Dolan shot a relevant clip and incredibly powerful. People don’t understand simple explanations. They need shock, words that will last for a long time and a gradual “protracted epiphany.” In my opinion, Dolan did the right thing. Showed everything harshly - as it should be.
