Young lovers meet and meet again in thoughtful ‘Of An Age’
Early in “Of An Age,” one of its characters declares, “I like seeing movies from countries I haven’t visited.” It’s a line of dialogue that catches our ear in part because, in context, it comes dripping with layers of hidden meaning, but it also serves as a fitting cornerstone in a film that – though it’s set in a mundane Melbourne suburb and almost entirely focused on two characters – feels infused with a multitude of global perspectives.
Perspective, in fact, seems key to the heart of gay writer/director Goran Stolevski’s thoughtful and refreshingly tender-hearted coming-of-age tale about an unexpected romance that lasts only 24 hours yet casts its spell across more than a decade.
Inspired by his own youth in Australia, Stolevski begins his film in 1999 and focuses on Nikola (Elias Anton), a closeted Serbian-born 18-year-old amateur ballroom dancer who lives with his very traditional Balkan immigrant family.
On the morning of an important competition, his dance partner and best friend Ebony (Hattie Hook) calls in a panic, stranded on a beach miles away.
