Violet (DVD)

A grand prize winner at the Berlin Film Festival, VIOLET tells the story of 15-year-old Jesse who bears witness to his best friend’s seemingly random murder at the mall. A carefully calibrated character study in the tradition of Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park, filmmaker Bas Devos’ meticulously calculated debut explores the process of coping in the midst of senseless violence. Shot partially on 8-perf 65mm film by acclaimed cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis (Bullhead, The Drop), VIOLET is constructed like a series of lush photographs; in each of the film’s compositions, there is a sophisticated mosaic of loss, the permanence of trauma and the tumult of youth.