Elephant Song (2014)

Absolutely Fantastic

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

When a psychiatrist mysteriously disappears after a session with a mentally disturbed young man, a colleague is brought in to coax answers out of the youth, which leads to mind games, trickery and emotional manipulation in this Canadian thriller. The film starts off well with a great sense of mystery in terms of what happened to the psychiatrist and what the young man is like; he is built up like Hannibal Lector in 'The Silence of the Lambs': a character with whom one has to be careful when talking to. Xavier Dolan (yes, the director of 'I Killed My Mother' and 'Laurence Anyways'!) is superb as the mysterious youth, "just because I'm crazy doesn't mean I'm stupid", while Bruce Greenwood is also solid as the colleague. The film is let down though by a humdrum solution to the mystery and while there is a small emotional wallop as one realises why Dolan has been institutionalised at the end, the final act does not resonate half as much as the opening act. Greenwood's home life is left hazy too; his daughter possibly has Down Syndrome, and he is living with a woman who he calls 'aunt', but is she his sister? Nothing is clear, including why his home life is even included. At its best and most focused though, 'Elephant Song' is a riveting portrait of two very intelligent individuals trying to one-up each other in conversation and manipulation with real tension in the air.

It's 1966. Psychiatrist Toby Green (Bruce Greenwood) talks to patient Michael Aleen (Xavier Dolan) who is supposed to have information on missing colleague Dr. Lawrence. Michael claims to be white elephant and keeps talking about elephants. He plays a cat-and-mouse game with Dr. Green and head nurse Susan Peterson (Catherine Keener). Green and Peterson used to be married until the lost of their daughter Rachel. Green faces a strained home life with Olivia (Carrie-Anne Moss) and autistic niece Amy. The head doctor interviews both Green and Peterson about Michael.Xavier Dolan does an interesting job and Greenwood is good. The story needs a bit more meat. Toby's home life needs a little more clarification especially with Olivia and Amy. The mystery with Lawrence gets defused too early. After the security guard and police claim to have seen Lawrence, the tension to find him almost disappears completely. The story needs to pace out and create more twists and reveals.

Xavier Dolan carries this movie start to finish. And the ending is what this story is all about! Dolan as Michael Aleen is brilliant in creating this character that is so compelling and deceitful he fools Dr. Green and nurse Petersen and the viewer into thinking he has the information they are seeking on Dr. Lawrence. What Dr. Green and nurse Petersen and the viewer do not realize is that Michael has one goal on this Christmas eve and thanks to an oversight by Dr. Green, Michael achieves his goal. And that is when we learn why he is in this mental hospital because his presents there is never really clearly defined throughout this story.What a film! Xavier Dolan deserves more credit for his acting and directing. He is an overlooked talent that hopefully will be a big name in the movie world. But unfortunately real talent seldom makes a splash in Hollywood.

The movie is interesting. The story keeps you guessing and the 'mystery' of missing doctor is good since the crazy man / boy is giving out the details, so you can never be sure whether it is true or not, or is he playing game.I think that Xavier Dolan was really good at the role of mentally deranged Michael. The role suits him really good. Don't know why, but in some scenes I pictured him in some movies/series based on Marcel Proust's book. He would be perfect for one of the roles of Proust.I did not really like the ending. It was ...hmmm ... too ordinary. And you see in the end that there was no mystery at all about the disappearance of the doctor. Also, the final scenes were kinda ...weak. But, all in all, quite good, except the last 3,4 minutes.Eight from me.