Alliance Française French Film Festival – Keep Going

‘Families in crisis’ is the common theme in the work of prolific Belgian auteur Joachim Lafosse (Our Children, After Love). With Keep Going, he takes his action outdoors where a claustrophobic relationship between mother and son threatens to implode against the sprawling vistas of an impressive but hostile landscape.

Set in Kyrgyzstan, this is a western in the purest sense—two people pitted against each other and the elements as they undertake a cross-country odyssey. Lafosse provides very little context, throwing us straight into the familial scrum as the two set off on horseback. He tactfully leaks information throughout the film until we’re able to understand why this mother, Sybille (Virginie Efira, In Bed with Victoria, AF FFF2017; and An Impossible Love in this year’s Festival), and her troubled teenage son, Samuel (Kacey Mottet Klein, Being 17, AF FFF2017; Keeper, AF FFF2017), have reached such a stalemate in their relationship.

Their journey unfolds against a cinematographic palette of warm tones and striking blues as Sybille and Samuel are forced to navigate the numerous threats that come their way. While the road might be treacherous, ironically, their greatest danger is each other.