After suffering from a persistent sore throat when he swallows, 29 year old Nino (Théodore Pellerin) receives a throat cancer diagnosis on his birthday.
That’s how Nino opens, albeit not in such a straight forward way. Nino actually skipped a few steps en route to his big C confirmation, so initially he doesn’t even know what the doctor is talking about. Plus, it’s hard to hear over the sound of the construction taking place outside the window.
Nino abounds in moments like this: life and death stakes regularly intermingle with mundane everyday details. It’s all ridiculous, coincidental and petty frustrations colliding with world-altering events that unravel the life of a young man over the course of a single weekend.
Each of the movie’s four days begins with a title card, starting with Friday (when Nino gets the bad news) and slowly creeping towards Monday (when he begins chemotherapy treatment). The weekend is marked by moments that are both exceptional and ordinary, including a chance reunion with Zoe (Salomé Dewaels), an attractive girl from school; a failed surprise birthday party thrown by Nino’s best friend Sofian (William Lebghil); and a chat with an ex-girlfriend in her empty apartment before she moves from Paris to Montreal.
Most of these conversations border on trivial, filled with dialogue that would normally feel innocuous and/or inconsequential, but they each take on added meaning in light of what Nino is struggling with (in solitary fashion, no less; the young man can’t bring himself to confess or confide in anyone about his diagnosis until nearly half way through the film).
Anchoring the movie with his usual sad smile and boyish charm is Pellerin, who is easily one of Canada’s best young actors. Nino doesn’t require him to go to any extreme lengths, but it’s proof of the actor’s likability that several quiet scenes wind up feeling so powerful. Nino keeps his emotions bottled up, which only makes it more impactful when he finally lets someone in or when he cries. It’s quietly devastating.
Nino isn’t a big film. Aside from the bird’s eye telescopic shots of Nino walking (alone) in the crowd on the street, the film is often quite contained and intimate. Cinematographer Lucie Baudinaud and first feature director Pauline Loquès (who co-wrote the screenplay with Maud Ameline) keep the camera close to characters’ faces, making the audience feel part of the conversation. A great deal of the film involves hanging out in bathrooms and bedrooms as characters reveal parts of themselves they usually keep hidden.
While neither the format or the narrative is revelatory, the film is well executed and the strength of the collaboration between Loquès and her star is evident onscreen. Nino is a strong debut for the director and yet another understated, but excellent showcase for Pellerin (his ability to embody vulnerable young men on the precipice is nearly unparalleled). Nino is a tender, intimate, and emotional way to spend 95 minutes. 4/5
Nino played at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
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