Nino review – time is running out for young man faced with cancer in shrewd sperm sample portrait

After being told he has throat cancer on the eve of his 30th birthday, Nino spends a fraught weekend in Paris in Pauline Loquès’ heartfelt feature debut

French film-maker Pauline Loquès makes her feature directing debut with this meanderingly real-time-style portrait of a young man in Paris over a fraught weekend, somewhat in the manner of Agnès Varda’s New Wave classic Cléo from 5 to 7. It is heartfelt and affecting, if a little flimsy.

Théodore Pellerin plays Nino, a young guy who has never quite got over the death of his dad, and who on the eve of his 30th birthday goes to the doctor due to slight pains while swallowing; he is told he has throat cancer, due to sexually transmitted HPV (or human papillomavirus) which he might have contracted years before. In a state of shock – baffled Nino persistently asks if he has got someone else’s test results – he is told that to preserve his chances of conceiving children he must provide a sperm sample for freezing right away, this weekend, before he begins chemo and radiotherapy on Monday.
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