Movie Review: The Son

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A miserable movie that leaves you wondering just who this was intended for in the first place. 

I was hoping that this film would be for depression, what director/co-writer Florian Zeller's previous film, The Father was for dementia. That movie helped us see the world through the eyes of someone with dementia and come out with a better understanding of it, making it still well worth watching even as it delved into a depressing subject matter. Unfortunately, this film lacks any of this depth and gives us little understanding of these characters. Because of this what we are left with is a depressing dirge of a movie that's only impact on its audience is making them feel worse than when they came in. I would hate to think of someone who struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts or someone who knows someone who struggles with this, watching this movie because the whole film feels hopeless and bleak. Yet the sadness that this movie will make you feel does not come from the filmmaking and storytelling but rather from subject matter. A teenager going through depression and suicidal thoughts will always be depressing and make us want to cry. That is because we are human beings and not monsters. Yet just because a depressing subject matter makes us feel sad, does not mean a movie did its job well. The fact of the matter is the storytelling here is horrible. The characters all come across as complete stereotypes with nothing interesting or engaging about them. These characters never feel real to us and often times it is hard to relate to or understand them. Again unlike The Father, which brought us into the mind of the main character, here by the end of the film we don't have any more understanding of who these characters are than we did just a few minutes into the movie. The storyline also suffers from clunky exposition and terrible dialogue. The dialogue never once feels like how people actually talk and this too often simply takes us out of the movie. This becomes an especially major fault because this film tries to feel very realistic and true to life. This movie was based off a stage play (with the same name) by Florian Zeller, who also directed and co-wrote the film and its stage play origins feel too obvious. This feels much more like a filmed stage play than a movie for much of the runtime, especially when the characters do much monologuing. You can see the monologues working better on the stage but in a movie, they simply feel out of place and clumsy. 

This film does have a top-notch cast that includes Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern and Anthony Hopkins. These are great actors who all give great performances that are wasted on such a miserable film.

I was left wondering at many times, just who this movie's audience would be. It obviously isn't for people who suffer from depression or know and love those who do, because it would offer no comfort or help. It is not for the average movie-goer who wouldn't want to see a movie about such a depressing subject. It isn't for those who want a character study, because there is little depth to these characters. It isn't for those who want something thought-provoking because it says nothing that pretty much anyone doesn't already know. Looking at the reviews it is getting, it is definitely not for film critics. So this becomes one of those rare movies that I cannot picture anyone actually liking. 

Movie Review: Armageddon Time

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A beautiful and heartbreaking film.

There is a tendency for movies about childhood to idealize this part of life. To look back on it with a wistful nostalgia. Yet if we really take a close look back at our own childhood there are parts of it, we would never wish to repeat. This is certainly true of writer and director, James Gray (Ad Astra), who turns in one of his most personal and emotion films with Armageddon Time. This film strips away all of the wistful nostalgia and instead offers brutal honesty. The movie can be very hard to watch at times, but it is one that had a very strong emotional effect on me. This film does not have a neat traditional three-act storyline, but instead revolves around various smaller plotlines that take place in our main character's life. He becomes best friends with a black kid and sees real racism play out in front of him, he develops a close relationship with his grandfather, he has conflicts with his parents who don't understand his desire to be an artist, he struggles with school and feels no desire or ambition to become what everyone seems to want him to be. While these many smaller plot lines may make this film feel jumbled to some, to me they just made it feel more real and like a portrait of a real person's childhood. James Gray has stated that he drew heavily draws from his own childhood experiences with this film. You can feel that authenticity throughout the whole movie and as we watch the film, we have no trouble putting ourselves in the main character's shoes. For nearly two hours we are living and feeling every experience this character lives through. This film also does a wonderful job of exploring themes like racism and how the school system doesn't always work for everybody. This film really gets us thinking about these subjects and leaves us with a lot going through our mind as the end credits roll. 

My biggest complaint with this movie is one scene involving the Trump family. I have no problem with filmmakers inserting political commentary into their films, but here it feels completely out of place and forced. Maybe the film could have done this in a subtler way that would fit the storyline better.

This is a truly great movie that is very emotionally powerful and thought provoking.  

Movie Review: The Father

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

An extremely good movie, but the subject matter makes it a difficult watch. 

As this movie starts it appears we are going to watch a very straightforward film. However it is not long until we question whether what we just saw was real or not. Our main character has dementia and we are seeing things through his point of view for the majority of the film. Because of this we never know if what we are seeing is real or not. This gives us an incredible connection with this character and what he is going through that it becomes hard to picture the film being done any other way. Of course our connection with the character is only enhanced by that character being played by Anthony Hopkins. With a career full of great performances this one can stand with the best of them. He brings a real fragileness and we can feel his loss of control. While this character is rough around the edges and demanding, we can see behind this the need to hold on to some control of the world around you when you don't have any. This makes even the moments when this character should be unlikable into truly heartbreaking scenes. Oliva Colman certainly holds her own in this film as well. As much as we can put ourselves in Anthony's role, we can see ourselves in hers as well. Her performance perfectly captures the heartbreak and pain as well as the irritation of someone who has a loved one going through this. The film is so emotional effective that it can be hard to even look at a lot of times, but I left the theater incredibly moved by what I just saw and grateful I watched it.

The biggest fault with this film is the few scenes in which our main character is not present. This simply takes us a little out of the movie and goes against what the rest of the film does so well. However these scenes are brief. 

If you want fun escapism go see Godzilla Vs. Kong. However if you want something that will truly move you, this film certainly will.