Scenario
Armand, a 6-year-old boy, is accused of crossing boundaries with his best friend in elementary school. Norway’s official submission for the «Best International Feature Film» category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. I can see why it won the Camera d’Or at Cannes 2024, but for the love of my life I couldn’t watch the film past the halfway point. A famous single mother is called to her son’s school by an incompetent pair of teachers and administrators to discuss an incident involving her son and his friend. It’s a great premise and Armand had my attention, also thanks to the fabulous opening scene and overall camerawork up until that point. But then it meanders into self-indulgent territory and I still have no idea what the director was going for, with a mix of abrupt dance sequences and an actor laughing for 3 minutes straight. That’s where it all started and the case became frustrating after that and never recovered. (Watched at the 2024 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)