San Sebastian 2023: Gamma Rays
San SebastianGamma Rays is a collective ensemble that follows a host of non-actor French Canadian immigrant young adults as they, essentially, slowly develop and find their way in life. It’s undeniably comparable to that of feeling like a French angst Larry Clark and Harmony Korine’s Kids but sweeter and more accessible without the perverted sexual overtones, and thankfully nowhere near as dark
Granted, Gamma Rays is a feature that doesn’t shy away from severity and seriousness with documentation of struggle and acceptance both socially and internally. Throughout, a lot of themes are undertaken and examined from femininity, acceptance, family, religion, sexuality. As aforementioned, a whole host of topics to be explored and with that comes a whole host of characters and thus performances. This venture is a multiple strand narrative that weaves in and out of interconnected plot lines and, to its credit, never feels overly long, rushed or even murky in flow and form. The two strongest reasons for this success is the stories told and the other the characters present.
Starting with the stories told and alluded to in the paragraphs above, what Gamma Rays introduces through its multi-arc narrative is two, three, even four intertwined arcs that distinctively feel different to the next. One is family dynamics, another would be surrounding first love, compared to that is an arc on self-acceptance and responsibility. Said arcs are undeniably, distinctively different to the other, and this collage or vignette thus creates a varied and wide portrait of teenage angst. Of course, some are slightly less serious than others but ultimately work better in this case to give levity and respite to others that feel darker and need more room to be allowed to breathe. That being said, while a lot of story arcs come together and flourish on their own, others feel as if they would prosper and flourish with more detail and running time to explore. Ironically, if this had focussed on individual stories centrally, it might have prospered but ultimately would not be a film that follows a wider immigrant storyline.
The secondary aspect of production where Gamma Rays excels is, of course, it non-professional actors and real authentic performances. This is where Gamma Rays could easily delve into deeper waters than it needs to and result in drowning in an aspect of production that looses control or gravitas. Simply put, the authenticity and engagement – due to severe realism – elevates this material to the next level with a broader and more immersive experience. As mentioned above, certain characters and their performances, due to their individual arcs, are calmer and more passive, others such as Chaimaa Zinedine – who is undoubtedly the stand out here, primarily due the screen time and material – has a great deal more to examine both internally and externally for a deeper enriching character study.
The only slight issue this feature has is that it covers a great deal of character and stories that do often feel anticlimactic, to greater extent what is presented never defies convention or expectation. How this venture is constructed is that the audience are flies on the wall to multiple stories, but due to that very nature, not much clarification and closure can be found. Perhaps this is a conscious decision on behalf of writers Nicolas Krief and Isabelle Brouillette, as well as director Henry Bernadet, to suggest a lack of closure and optimism for some, lack of closure for others, in respect to where the future might lie for certain characters. While that might work on paper and with admiration to these stories, it does little to feel like watching something that has earned the audiences full emotional attentiveness with a lack of finality.
Ultimately, while Les rayons Gamma is a well crafted and produced vingette in the lives of French Canadian immigrant families with a strong backbone of performance, it is a feature that lacks finality with its story arcs and due to that very form of structure has a severe tendency to start and stop with pacing and flow, often times with lack in taking in its surroundings. Nevertheless, even with what feels like a visually rudimentary outing with no concrete sense of visual style. It is a venture that has a great deal of depth and insight that feels both engaging and emotive.
