Of An Age – An Thin Understated Love Story

When it comes to romance films, chemistry goes a long way, often making up for many perceived faults. Meanwhile, it helps sell stories and its characters by pulling audiences in even further. That being said, it can’t always make up for everything. When it comes to the Australian romance film Of An Age, the excellent chemistry of its two leads, Elias Anton and Thom Green, makes it somewhat work. However, the film may still leave many wanting more as it plays things fairly close to the vest, merely offering audiences a taste and not letting them enough time in the moment. It’s those little moments where the film truly shines. However, there isn’t enough there to tie those moments together. In the end, this understated, slow burn love story is compelling to watch but its broken narrative and short length lessens the emotional impact of its ending. Though the film needed more depth, Anton and Green do a lot to fill in those gaps as they each have the weight of it resting on their shoulders. Thankfully, they are both up to the task. It’s just a shame that the film did not feature their chemistry enough seeing that the story is about them.

Of An Age takes place in 1999 and follows the relationship of a young Serbian dancer named Kol (Anton) and Adam (Green), the older brother of his best friend Ebony (Hook). Meeting by chance, the two immediately hit it off, leading to a whirlwind romance and a tidal wave of new feelings and experiences for Kol over the course of a 24-hour period. Though the film essentially puts them together under the thinnest of pretenses, that connection was there and it only grew from there before it abruptly ripped them apart. The story would have been that much better if it had allowed audiences to stay in that moment longer as it simply whisks the characters forward via an 11-year time jump that rushes and glosses over character development needed to better connect the first act with the last act. If anything, the film works better as a coming-of-age story for Kol through the lens of his relationship with Adam yet barely does anything with that. Trying to both without doing either in a particularly deep way while over top a thin foundation did it a great disservice. Had it picked a side, it would have made things clearer.

As mentioned, the film depends on the relationship between Kol and Adam as lives or dies on the buy-in of audiences as it tries to do so much within a short period of time, plugging them together right away and offering little context or backstories. All things considered, watching it blossom through a series of glances and sharp dialog, it’s easy to see that they were drawn to one another. It should have been rooted in something more. On the other side of the time jump, the film expects audiences to keep up with that relationship despite a lot of changes from before to after. It was hard to care for much else besides Kol and Adam before but after, there was even more to not care about. The ending felt like it was meant to be, however, better character arcs would have sold it much better on an emotional level. Nevertheless, the film is beautiful on a technical level with some stellar cinematography and lighting especially in those intimate moments and a cool soundtrack.

At the end of the day, the best part of Of An Age is the aforementioned performances from Anton and Green as Kol and Adam. Their excellent chemistry makes it work, building a decent foundation for the story. However, they just needed more support around them. Despite being thin individually, the intimate moments between the two were the best part of the film. Capturing that intimacy beautifully, their performances pull out more layers from the writing and create a sense of realism that immerses audiences though the understated nature of those scenes won’t be for everyone.

Of An Age is a beautiful love story that just needed more. However, many are sure to fall in love with the main characters regardless.

still courtesy of Focus Features

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.