You Won’t Be Alone, Goran Stolevski’s debut film, was one of the most unfairly ignored features for “Best of 2022” accolades. Telling the story of a witch trying to understand what it means to be human in 19th century Macedonia, You Won’t Be Alone felt like a beautiful lovechild of Robert Eggers’ attention to lore and Terrence Malick’s often-gorgeous cinematography. Perhaps the gore and subtitles scared the crowds away as You Won’t Be Alone remains to be discovered as one of this decade’s great films.
Stolevski pivots for his sophomore feature, the coming-of-age/gay love story of Of an Age. And maybe there are parallels here with Stolevski’s first film about an outsider learning about the human condition, but Of an Age possesses none of the beautiful grandeur or rich character pathos that makes You Won’t Be Alone so startling.
Of an Age tells the story of Kol (Elias Anton), whose Serbian family now lives in Australia. When we first meet Kol, he is practicing for a dance competition in his family’s garage when he fields a phone call from his hysterical best friend, Ebony (Hattie Hook). She had been out drinking and partying and after waking up alone on some random beach, she is terrified and has no one else to call.
Despite only an hour or so until the competition, Kol springs into motion to locate his missing friend. This quest brings him into the car of Adam (Thom Green), Ebony’s older brother. As they search for the girl, Adam reveals that he is gay, something that is not commonly discussed out in the open in late ‘90s Australia. For the deeply closeted, Kol, the older man represents a Pandora’s box of passion and as they drive around, finds himself becoming attracted to Adam, despite being in denial of his own sexuality.
Unlike You Won’t Be Alone, which made good use of the vast Macedonian countryside, Stolevski shoots his characters in tight close-up for most of Of an Age. A good portion of the film takes place in a car, camera taut on Anton and Green’s faces. It makes sense that the director is showing us the claustrophobic effects of self-denial, as well as the encroaching intimacy between the men, but Of an Age feels unnecessarily stuffy. There are lots of shots of power lines, but we see little else of the world around Kol and Adam.
Of an Age is a story of deadlines. It soon becomes apparent that Kol will miss the dance competition, but that’s okay because the appearance of Adam rattles his world. But once the men break past Kol’s initial gay panic, it is soon revealed that Adam is about to leave town for graduate school. And this being 1999, there is no Facebook or other social media to stay in touch easily.
The tentative nature of the romance is handled with great care by Stolevski. Kol, embattled by his family’s traditional values, Australia’s attitudes towards homosexuality in the late ‘90s and his own low self-esteem, finds solace in this new romance. But then Stolevski propels us 11 years into the future, where Kol and Adam reconvene at Ebony’s wedding, and we see just how this stray encounter touched Kol’s life.
Of an Age explores the notion of a first love that doesn’t go away for one party. Richard Linklater mined a similar story for a greater emotional resonance in Before Sunset, giving an entire feature and nine real life years for things to build. And in that film, it’s clear that both people were touched. Not so here.
Stolevski’s film feels uneven as so much of its runtime is given to the burgeoning romance that the aftermath feels too much like a coda. Ultimately, the connection between the two men never seemed strong enough to haunt Kol for a full decade. With Linklater’s characters, we’re given the time to feel that ache. Of an Age is handled with the awkwardness of a first kiss, one that is never truly given the chance to blossom into a full-blooded romance for the ages.
Photo courtesy of Focus Features
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