Movies about love are like skiing. It’s easy to make a B+ love story, that can make people swoon and couples get cozier next to each other as the story goes along. But skiing is a b*tch to master, to be special at. I don’t think you can ski anywhere in Australia, but it doesn’t matter, because Goran Stolevski has crafted a solid A love story, rising above through its wonderful screenplay and leading performances.
In the late 90s in Australia, high school senior Kol (Elias Anton) is prepping for the finals of a dancing competition early in the morning. His dance partner, Ebony (Hattie Hook) frantically calls him from a pay phone: she went on a crazy nighttime adventure and has no idea where she is. She pleads with Kol to come get her, but he is currently carless. After calling around, Kol gets a ride from Ebony’s brother Adam (Thom Green) to go pick up Ebony from wherever she is.
And so begins one of the great recent onscreen romances. Now what makes people swoon is different for everyone, but what Of an Age pulls off is one of those rare, special swoon sessions only the greats can accomplish. Kol is frantic and completely upset the minute he gets into Adam’s car, pissed that he’s probably missing his last dance recital. But all that anger slowly dissipates talking to Adam, transforming into that magic everyone experiences when they find a kindred spirit. I can’t stress enough how incredible Goran Stolevski’s script is here, using two guys in a car innocuously talking to slowly draw the audience in and have them do the thing where they turn to one another and go “is this really happening? I’m not imagining things right?” Thom Green and Elias Anton are incredible in this lengthy two hander; Anton our surrogate, equally excited and scared with what’s happening, and Green the inquisitive confident older young man, trying to figure out who’s really sitting next to him. The movie this reminded me most of is the incredible Before Sunrise, where two people chit chat to slowly realize that they’ve found lightning in a love bottle. If the movie had just been an hour and a half car ride to pick up Ebony and bring her home, I dare say Of an Age might have been a perfect film.
At some point Stolevski decides it’s time to leave the car. However, the You Won’t Be Alone director had so won me over that I was ready for any time to be spent with Kol and Adam. The third act probably is pretty superfluous, but it adds some nice layers to the two men as they move on from their magical night together. Both men have been transformed by their experience in mostly positive ways, and yet, as Tim McGraw would say, the memory of that first love never fades away. Thom Green and Elias Anton are great in these scenes too even though they’re completely different characters, essentially ending up in a mini version of Before Sunset. I can’t wait for their Before Midnight. Bring it on, boys!
Years of movies tried to teach me that love is about two hot opposites hooking up with each other. But in my years of watching movies, the best romances don’t start in the heart, they start in the head, and work their way down. Of an Age shares my beliefs, giving us a love story for the ages. So for all of you that haven’t found love yet, don’t wait for some hot mess in a work office to show up, keep an open mind and an open heart, and forge a connection with somebody new. Who knows where it can lead?