Gabrielle

A smart and sweet little love story that doesn't insult its characters.

Astonishing in its unaffected simplicity. The only thing that tries too hard is the camerawork, which is too close and too shaky. Maybe simplicity is not all we go to the movies for, but the relevance here is that it's a touching story about us, not "them".

Probably overrating this for sentimental reasons, but it's pretty wonderful: a melodrama about mental disability that indulges its nonprofessional cast members in plotless play to a greater degree than just about anything not directed by Bruno Dumont. Downside of which is that by the end there's not enough time left to resolve any of the interesting threads on disability & sex, autonomy, family, etc. and everyone's just kinda shoved into the happiest ending possible. Marion-Rivard is amazing.