REVIEW: THE SON

3/5

The Falling Son. 

123 Mins. Starring: Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Hugh Quarshie & Anthony Hopkins. Director: Florian Zeller. 

They say the sins of the father will be visited upon the son. But none of The Academy success of 'The Father' have been inherited by 'The Son'. Florian Zeller's staged masterpiece saw 'The Two Popes' and 'The Remains Of The Day' legend Anthony Hopkins pip the late, great Chadwick Boseman ('Ma Rainey's Black Bottom') to the post for the Best Actor Oscar. One that brought Jamie Lee Curtis (deservedly playing everybody in this year's Academy darling 'Everything Everywhere All At Once') over 'Black Panther-Wakanda Forever' Queen Angela Bassett like disappointment for some (Auntie should have definitely won it for her role as Tina Turner back in the day, but 'What's Love Got To Do With It'). But there are no envelopes for this school skipping son like rejected college applications. And that's a shame. Despite critics calling this "aggressive melodrama." 

Based on Zeller's stage-play of the same name ('Le Fils' to be exact) like 'The Crown'. This may not have taken the throne, but it's still regal in its direction and shimmering score setting from the great Hans Zimmer. Just as poetic, if not as profound, Hopkins reprises his role as the father with this serving as a prequel. Showing it might not have been all the illness that made this man too much to bear for 'The Lost Daughter' of Olivia Coleman. Sure, it's aggressive. But often times the angst of teenage life often is. Especially with the aggravated relationship between the son and the father trying to find understanding and a level playing field through all the hurt and heartbreak without making the same generational mistakes again. Ones that could leave you looking bitterly at what could have been. 'Prisoners' perfect Hugh Jackman gives us another arresting performance, barely leaving his suit and tie from the office that is a cubicle confining him from the family he has. Despite the fact that he has the world in view from his window, looking out at the Empire State. And he could even run for office from the concrete jungle to a DC where political dreams are made like 'The Front Runner'. 

Not once does he snikt shrink into the madness of his wonderful Wolverine character, but he carries this picture in those sleeved big and burly arms getting ready for his grand 'Deadpool' return. And once 'The Greatest Showman' of the stage ('Les Misérables', on Broadway in 'The River') unleashes the Dad dancing you'll laugh after you've cried for a brief, beautiful respite in this dull ache of a movie that shows just how numbing depression is...for all family matters. Hugh will break your heart as what lies beneath the dead calm of nuanced newcomer Zen McGrath. Sure, even with those curls he has nothing on Timothée Chalamet's 'Beautiful Boy', but like Lennon, that's a different song. This one shows just how maddening depression is for all parties. Sometimes it's clinical, other times moving. But often like those misunderstanding the minds of the young, what looks melodramatic is disguising, something much more tragic. Something that can't be put into words. 

Kudos to everyone in 'The Son' for trying to express it as well as they can. Just like how those that cut are doing more than hurting themselves. It goes deeper than that. An underused but undeniable Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby follow their respective 'Marriage Story' and 'Pieces Of A Woman' with even more acclaim, garnering performances as the former and new love in our lead's life. But they're much more than that. Refusing to be reduced to the margins that the screenplay and the Hollywood heartthrob front and centre with his own flesh and blood might leave them in unknowingly. Three's not a crowd when it's your own damn home and son. 'Holby City' Legend Hugh Quarshie is also prescribed as a doctor with more warning than recommendation in a truly tense and terrifying turning point that goes through more second opinions than the confused and conflicted nature of anxiety itself. It all comes to a head in a jarring moment you might have seen coming a mile off, but one that still jolts with a shock to a system. This film doesn't just take a piece out of you. It stays with you, even as you leave what it took at the theatre. 'The Father'. 'The Son'. What will come next like the Holy Spirit? We don't know, but the stage is set for the realest and rawest story of all. The ties of family. The ones that bind and break us. For better or worse. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'The Father', 'Beautiful Boy', 'Wildlife'.