- Director : Florian Zeller
- Actors : Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell
- Producers : Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt, Simon Friend, Philippe Carcassonne
- Studio : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- MPAA rating : PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
- Media Format : Subtitled
- Run time : 1 hour and 37 minutes
- Release date : May 18, 2021
- Subtitles: : English
Most of the time
I don’t enjoy being disoriented by the films that I watch. The Father was
a unique experience, in that my disorientation felt crucial to the viewing
experience. If the movie is simplistic in terms of story, that only allows for
the focus to be on the presentation of the plot involving an aging man named
Anthony (Anthony Hopkins). Even the choice to have the character named the same
as the actor playing him simplifies things. We understand that the experience
of aging is one that even a famous actor must face, and this film puts in the
perspective of a person who is going through this.
We are closely
tied to Anthony throughout the film, as he struggles to make sense of the
timeline in his life. People enter and exit his apartment, including his
daughter Anne (Olivia Colman), but time seems to jump back and forth, and
sometimes the people even look different (with alternate actors stepping into
roles). The entire experience is very frustrating, but allows the audience a
brief period in the shoes of someone who is slowly losing a grasp on what is
happening. Florian Zeller’s approach to the filmmaking may not be a lot of fun
to watch, but it is some of the most effective filmmaking of the year.
At the center of
this filmmaking is the acting. All of it is important to the film, but there is
no denying that Hopkins carries a majority of the emotional weight. The rawness
of watching the confusion and emotions of a man who is suffering from some type
of dementia is compounded by the way the film itself isolates the audience. Not
only was this the best performance of the year, I would argue that this may be
the performance of his career.
The Blu-ray
release of The Father includes a handful of special features, including
a generic making-of featurette. There are also a handful of deleted scenes.
Entertainment Value:
7.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 10/10
Historical
Significance: 8.5/10
Special Features: 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment