I Am Jonas (2018)

Two moments of Jonas's life intertwine, each reflecting the other: in 1995, when he was a secretive teenager, and 18 years later, as an attractive and impulsive thirty-something looking for balance in his life.

Director:

Christophe Charrier

Writer:

Christophe Charrier

Stars:

Félix Maritaud, Nicolas Bauwens, Tommy-Lee Baïk

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Félix Maritaud	...	Jonas
Nicolas Bauwens	...	Jonas ado
Tommy-Lee Baïk	...	Nathan
Aure Atika	...	La mère de Nathan
Marie Denarnaud	...	La mère de Jonas
Ilian Bergala	...	Léonard
Pierre Cartonnet	...	Le père de Jonas
Marcel Bouzige	...	Garçon moqueur
Nicolas Sartous	...	Le prédateur
David Baïot	...	Samuel
Julien Naccache	...	Mec Grindr (as Julien Nacache)
Ingrid Graziani	...	Caroline adulte
Edith Saulnier	...	Caroline adolescente
Constance Lecavelle	...	Petite amie Léonard
Jean-Luc Rehel	...	Le voisin

Storyline

Boys (Jonas) is a mystery told in two separate timelines. In the first, it's 1997 and Jonas is entering 9th grade. A new boy in school immediately catches his eye. Perhaps it's the bad-boy scar on his cheek or his devil-may-care attitude, but Jonas is smitten. The two boys quickly become friends and before long are skipping class to kiss in an empty gymnasium. In the film's other timeline, it's 2015 and the excitement of a teenager in love has been replaced with the sorrow of a man who can't escape the past. The adult version of Jonas (Félix Maritaud, outstanding in this year's sexually graphic Sauvage and last year's ImageOut favorite BPM) is a broken man. His boyfriend has thrown him out for cheating on him a few too many times, and he's been arrested for getting into a fight at Boys, a local gay bar. There's something about the bar that seems to set him off. He meanders through life still carrying that same old Game Boy, trying to fill a hole that can't be filled. So what happened ...

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Plot Keywords:

gay teenager | gay interest | gay | teenage boy | gay kiss | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

16 November 2018 (France)

Also Known As:

I Am Jonas

Filming Locations:

Toulon, Var, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

En Compagnie Des Lamas, ARTE, Region PACA

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16 : 9

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Nowhere (1997)

User Reviews

Something's missing, somewhere...

This is quite a well put together little drama recounting the life of "Jonas" through the twin threads of his late childhood and of a current day thirty-something. Félix Maritaud plays the elder incarnation in a typically gritty and plausible way (though he does look like he could do with a good meal!) with Nicolas Bauwens as his younger, largely conformist, self. My problem is that the narrative that gets us from person A to person B - via a new schoolfriend "Nathan" doesn't quite work. There is an incident, which we do discover at the end, but it leaves me with a feeling of incompleteness. Perhaps that's Christophe Charrier's plan - that there are no "happy endings", but I am struggling to fathom just how Jonas got onto this path of self destruction and his life, so out of hand in the first place. As with loads of French gay cinema, it is filmed at night - via street light - and is all the more evocative for that.