‘Of an Age’ Finds ’90s Queer Love in a Somewhat Hopeful Place
“Being the two people in a crowded room that have this secret between you is...very poignant and romantic,” says the movie's writer-director Goran Stolevski.
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There is a trope within queer stories, specifically those told in cinema, that cloisters its characters from the rest of the world, where they foster their love: Jack and Ennis on Brokeback Mountain, The Living End’s Luke and Jon on the road, Weekend’s Russell and Glen in Russell’s apartment, Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Marianne and Héloïse on their island. Its frequency has done nothing to diminish its poignancy—see the mass waterworks unleashed by Bill and Frank, two guys in love at the end of the world, in the third episode of The Last of Us. The latest employment of this setup, Of an Age, comes from writer-director Goran Stolevski, the Macedonian Australian filmmaker whose film about a shapeshifting witch, You Won’t Be Alone, was a breakout of last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Of an Age, out now, tells the story of the gay awakening of 17-year-old Nikola (Elias Anton), spurred by a road trip to retrieve his best friend Ebony (Hattie Hook) with her older brother Adam (Thom Green). Like many of the movies that allow queers to live together in a blissful silo, Of an Age forges bittersweetness from the terminal nature of this life-altering connection—the day after they meet, Adam is set to head to Buenos Aires to begin his doctorate.
“Being the two people in a crowded room that have this secret between you is extremely fucking sexy, and it’s electric, and it’s also very poignant and romantic,” Stolevski told Jezebel in a recent Zoom. “I think that’s a benefit of being queer. I look for the things that are emotionally fulfilling and transporting even under horrific circumstances. And I think the world that is shaping these two guys, especially Nikola, is very present in the film around the edges. I think we all know what the obstacles are, and I think no one who is going to watch this film needs to be explained that there are obstacles.”
Stolevski set his romance in 1999 “because it’s before technology made it easier to connect with people like you.” The setting reinforces just how crucial this bond is to both guys, particularly Nikola (who is referred to throughout the movie as Kol). Kol’s situation is further complicated by his experience as an immigrant to Australia from Serbia—he’s someone who is regarded sometimes derisively as an outsider in his hometown, and his traditional household expects a certain amount of conventional masculinity in his presentation (not an easy feat as a ballroom dancer). Stolevski moved from Macedonia to Australia as a kid, but he said that Of an Age is “an emotional autobiography,” not a literal one. “Both of them are me,” he says of his characters, but he relates more to Adam—for one thing, he was “militantly out” his final year in high school, unlike Kol, who’s still finding himself. (Adam at one point refers to his ex as “Goran,” but Stolevski said he used his own name for no reason beyond it being “an easy ethnic name to spell really quickly.”)When casting these dimensions of himself, Stolevski looked for openness in actors. He spotted Green in a clip from a movie, in which he rode a bike, got off it, and walked into a cafe. “There’s no emotional histrionics, no nothing,” Stolevski said of the clip. “He has nothing to act opposite of, he feels super present. It’s like Fred Astaire and the hat rack. When he’s looking at something, that thing comes alive like he’s dancing with it.” For the role of Kol, Stolevski auditioned “hundreds” of guys.