Violet

Surveillance monitors show silent and impassive young people in an empty shopping mall. Suddenly one of them falls to the ground and another watches the scene as if transfixed: Jesse's best friend Jonas has just been stabbed to death in front of his eyes. The motive remains unclear. Devos' feature film debut focuses instead on how the 15-year-old deals with shock, grief, loss, pain and feelings of guilt - and how his BMX gang, his parents and those of the dead man face him. The camera goes on day and night forays in the suburban estate, in the skatepark and at a concert by the black metal band Deafheaven. Rather than focusing on causal chains of events and drama, the narrative relies entirely on the effect of image and sound design: long takes, precise framing, blurring, colors that run into each other and a soundtrack made of noises create a quiet and intense atmosphere. The lack of dialogue for the most part brings out what cannot be put into words. (bik)