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U.S. Go Home (1994)

★★ — U.S. Go Home (1994)

Claire Denis made U.S. Go Home as part of a French television anthology series called "Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge" (loosely, all the boys and girls of their age), in which various directors were each asked to set a film in a specific decade from their own youth, incorporating music from that era. Denis, who had already established herself with Chocolat (1988) and the more experimental S'en fout la mort (1990), took the early 1960s as her period, shooting in the suburban Paris banlieues she knew from her own adolescence. The brief runtime, 68 minutes, reflects the television commission rather than any constraint of ambition. Grégoire Colin, who would become something of a recurring presence in Denis's work, appears here in an early role.

U.S. Go Home (1994), Claire Denis's short feature set in 1960s France, aims for a hazy, nostalgic portrait of adolescent longing, but lands closer to languid than luminous. The film follows a teenage girl and her friend as they navigate crushes, boredom, and the intoxicating pull of American pop culture, all set against sun-drenched afternoons and house parties pulsing with Motown and rock 'n' roll. The soundtrack is undeniably strong (Dusty Springfield, The Shangri-Las, The Kinks) and for stretches, the film feels less like a narrative and more like a mixtape visualized: bodies swaying, cigarettes lit, glances exchanged under colored lights. But that's also its weakness. With minimal dialogue and even less plot, it drifts rather than develops. The coming-of-age (sexual curiosity, social awkwardness, generational friction) are present but thinly sketched, leaving the characters feeling more like mood boards than people. Compared to richer, more resonant films in the genre, this one feels slight, almost ephemeral. It captures a vibe, but not much else. Pleasant enough in the moment, but forgettable by morning. A well-curated playlist deserves a better movie wrapped around it. For Denis completists only; everyone else might find themselves waiting for something to happen.

Rating: ★★ | Year: 1994 | Watched: 2026-03-11

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