Adam changes slowly, literally. His body changes according to the low blows, insults of all kinds, which come here and there. A foray into the life of a 15-year-old (paunchy) teenager.
UFO film, halfway between the initiatory story and the (parodied) adolescent comedy, Adam Changes Slowly is an elusive little gem, both hilarious and heartbreaking, extremely uncomfortable. We’re laughing all the way through this first feature film, awarded at several festivals, by Joël Vaudreuil, who we knew was the drummer for Avec pas d’casque, who we discover here as a keen observer of the teenage population, circa 1990.
It takes place in a time long ago when children were asked to turn down the volume on the television, when telephones had cords, and when porn slipped under mattresses. Oh yes, and when the young people were mowing lawns, getting bored and doing bad things in the summer.
Some will recognize the voices of Simon Lacroix, Noémie O’Farrell, Sophie Desmarais, Fabien Cloutier, Marc Beaupré and several others.
A family surrounds an old lady at the hospital. We guess she is dying. Everyone is in meditation mode. Adam arrives, limp side with dangling arms (and breasts), eyes wide, looking eternally lost. Dramatic twist: the lady stands up from her deathbed, and says, in a gravelly voice from beyond the grave: “I always thought you had a long trunk! »
Should we applaud the resurrected old woman, or shudder at her words of nameless wickedness? Doubt grips the viewer throughout, while this “long trunk” lengthens, and the discomforts multiply. While, above all, we wait for our Adam to pull himself together, and finally put his fist on the table (or elsewhere).
All the clichés of teenage comedies are there: the end of school, the spotty best friend, the first summer job, without forgetting the drunken party and the final scene, this announced fiasco. Without forgetting impossible love, and this gang of cool young people that we love to hate so much. The humor here comes less from the dialogues than from the extremely absurd situations, as improbable as a cat with no legs thrown into a swimming pool.
Special mention to the music (by Joël Vaudreuil), sometimes distressing, a nod to John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, etc.).
If the wickedness of some is matched only by the weakness of others, this film, as infuriating as it is delectable, despite its length, can only end badly, and we know it. We didn’t expect so much, and it’s as enjoyable as it is unsettling.
