XX/XY

Year: 2002
USA: IFC Films
UK: Optimum Releasing
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Kathleen Robertson, Maya Stange, Petra Wright, Kel O'Neill, Joshua Spafford, Zach Shaffer, Joey Kern, Evan Neumann, John A MacKay, David Thornton, Melissa Guion
Director: Austin Chick
Country: USA
USA & UK: 91 mins
USA Rated: R for sexuality, language, and brief drug use
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language, moderate sex and drug use
USA Release Date: 11 April 2003 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 24 October 2003
US Distributor

Synopsis

XX/XY is a unique coming of age story about friends on the threshold of adulthood and how they breech that uneasy time, still struggling to maintain their true sense of being. Mark Ruffalo, Kathleen Robertson and Maya Stange star in this gritty and sophisticated exploration into the revolving lives of three college students who first meet at Sarah Lawrence College in the early 90's.

When Sam (Maya Stange) and Thea (Kathleen Robertson) meet the irreverent young artist Coles (Mark Ruffalo) at a college party, their mutual attraction is immediate, leading to a passionate, if not awkward, night together and the onset of an intensely charged bond. Yet as they continue to push the sexual boundaries of their friendship, they are challenged by Sam and Coles peculiar romance and Thea's increasing recklessness until the relationship dissolves amid a shroud of lust, resentment and mistrust.

Flash-forward 10 years and the former friends are a lifetime removed from their wild college days. A failed filmmaker resigned to work as an animator for a high-profile ad agency, Coles now lives with his girlfriend of five years, Claire (Petra Wright). Sam has just returned to Manhattan after working in London where she recently broke off her engagement. While Thea is happily married to Miles (David Thornton), with whom she owns a flourishing restaurant.

As Coles and Sam are thrust back into each other's lives after a random encounter, Coles finds himself struggling to distinguish between his newly realized love for Sam and his current relationship with Claire. During a weekend trip to the Hampton's, old feelings and hard choices come to the surface as Coles is forced to confront himself for the first time in his life - a confrontation that either will give him closure on unresolved issues or shatter the life he has managed to built for himself.

Recently nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, XX/XY delves into the maturation process young adults undergo when they take that next step in life after college and begin to craft the true course their lives will take.