MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY FILM INQUIRER

Intimate and emotional, Of an Age is a story of queer self-discovery, yearning and fatalistic love which is deeply grounded in the way it captures what it was like to be a queer person from an immigrant family in the late 90s. Director Goran Stolevski delights in soft focus and tight framing, characters faces often filling almost the entire frame as they muse on Kafka or Tori Amos, creating simultaneous feelings of intimacy and claustrophobia. As such, Melbourne becomes a prison to the characters, home to all of your oppressors and enemies, but through love you may be set free, even for just one fleeting, beautiful moment. It’s a film which is as humorous as it is heart-wrenching, and one that is deeply reverent of queer classics like Beau Travail (1999) and Happy Together (1997). With all this and an absolutely killer soundtrack, Of an Age is undoubtedly the highlight of my MIFF so far, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it stayed that way until the end of the festival.

Of an Age can currently be found at the Melbourne International Film Festival (running from August 4th until the 21st in cinemas), with the final round of tickets for any sessions on standby to be released at 5:00 pm the day before each session. Interested in writing a review of anything? Just send us an email.