Correspondence between a famous actor and his eleven-year-old fan suddenly changes the lives of both of them. The English-language debut of Xavier Dolan starring Kit Harington.
The life of eleven-year-old English boy Rupert is not that easy. With other pupils teasing him at a new school, and mom, a failed actress, forbidding the wannabe child actor to attend auditions, his sole escape becomes a TV show featuring the beautiful, successful, and talented John F. Donovan. One day, Rupert decides to send a letter to his idol revealing everything about his troubles. Unexpectedly, the actor replies, starting a correspondence between them that would change their lives forever.
Sticking to his signature style, Xavier Dolan’s English-language debut The Death and Life of John F. Donovan is a take on the French director’s favorite theme of self-acceptance, offering the viewer a carefully calibrated and dramatically excessive soundtrack in combination with recognizable visual manner. Dolan has also managed to make a precise and somewhat bitter film about the tragedy of popularity and success. For the sake of glory and major roles, John F. Donovan turns his life into an ongoing spectacle. Forced to constantly pretend in order to fit into his stage alias created by the mass media, Donovan’s only friend seems to be the young Rupert—although the two have never even met.
The screening is organized together with KinoPoisk.
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
Director Xavier Dolan
Canada, UK, 2018. 123 min. 18+