HOME World Cinema

Flemish filmmaker Fien Troch (KID, AFI FEST 2012) recreates — with a handheld camera and a confined aspect ratio — the fluctuating, heightened emotions of youth and the generational dynamics that render adults oblivious. Just released from a juvenile detention center, 17-year-old Kevin goes to live with his aunt’s family, who agree to provide him with a stable home life and a plumbing apprenticeship at their renovation business. He is immediately drawn into his younger cousin Sammy’s social circle, winning favor with his best friend and girlfriend at the supermarket parking lot, where relationships are mediated by cell phone footage of one another. Here, Kevin befriends John, and is determined to help him confront a difficult situation at home. Deprived of the comfort that home represents for their peers, Kevin and John share a sense of alienation that threatens to erupt in violence. — Malin Kan