Live from TIFF: When Did You Last See Your Father?
When Did You Last See Your Father? ***
Directed by Anand Tucker
92 Minutes
"When Did You Last See Your Father?" ends up being the same case as "Under the Same Moon," also playing at this years festival. It is a nicely told, well acted story, but in the end it is slightly predictable. But the acting is really top notch, and while it does follow a formula it follows it well and it ends up being sweet in the end. Colin Firth plays our main character Blake Morrison, and shows that he is a very good actor that just doesn't get the right roles.
Blake is in his late forties, married with children, and he has just found out that his father, played by Jim Broadbent, is dying with cancer. He returns to him home and with his mother, played by Juliet Stephenson, begins to make the arrangements for the death. Ash is father lays dying in his bedroom, Blake remembers his childhood and the conflicts that his father put him through. His father made a fool out of both Blake and himself several times, he may have had an affair, and he never acted his age, and Blake tries to forgive him for all of that. In the end his father is still his father, regardless of what he did to him, and Blake should love him-in the end he is a good man. And the film really did make me feel warm inside, and when it was over I even called my own father, silly as that may should (and it was about two hours later, mind you.)
Told mostly in flashbacks, "When Did You Last See Your Father?" was similar to watching "Big Fish," only without all the magic. It has its share of humor, but it is mostly a solemn and straightforward story, not much mystery to it. That being said it ends up working. Director Anand Tucker does make the mistake of using loud and very melodramatic and over the top music, something that he also did in the decent "Shopgirl,"-but that film just was almost destroyed by the terrible musical score. Broadbent is terrific as usual, and he could even be the veteran that ends up scoring an Oscar nomination-there is always one. But see "When Did You Last See Your Father?" to be moved and to enjoy yourself, and don't go in expecting something amazing. Its just a nicely told story, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else.
Sony Pictures Classics has this lined up for early next year, and I am glad that the MPAA did not slap an R rating on this as I expected it would be. There is a couple of real risque bits, and usually they give R ratings to good films.
Directed by Anand Tucker
92 Minutes
"When Did You Last See Your Father?" ends up being the same case as "Under the Same Moon," also playing at this years festival. It is a nicely told, well acted story, but in the end it is slightly predictable. But the acting is really top notch, and while it does follow a formula it follows it well and it ends up being sweet in the end. Colin Firth plays our main character Blake Morrison, and shows that he is a very good actor that just doesn't get the right roles.
Blake is in his late forties, married with children, and he has just found out that his father, played by Jim Broadbent, is dying with cancer. He returns to him home and with his mother, played by Juliet Stephenson, begins to make the arrangements for the death. Ash is father lays dying in his bedroom, Blake remembers his childhood and the conflicts that his father put him through. His father made a fool out of both Blake and himself several times, he may have had an affair, and he never acted his age, and Blake tries to forgive him for all of that. In the end his father is still his father, regardless of what he did to him, and Blake should love him-in the end he is a good man. And the film really did make me feel warm inside, and when it was over I even called my own father, silly as that may should (and it was about two hours later, mind you.)
Told mostly in flashbacks, "When Did You Last See Your Father?" was similar to watching "Big Fish," only without all the magic. It has its share of humor, but it is mostly a solemn and straightforward story, not much mystery to it. That being said it ends up working. Director Anand Tucker does make the mistake of using loud and very melodramatic and over the top music, something that he also did in the decent "Shopgirl,"-but that film just was almost destroyed by the terrible musical score. Broadbent is terrific as usual, and he could even be the veteran that ends up scoring an Oscar nomination-there is always one. But see "When Did You Last See Your Father?" to be moved and to enjoy yourself, and don't go in expecting something amazing. Its just a nicely told story, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else.
Sony Pictures Classics has this lined up for early next year, and I am glad that the MPAA did not slap an R rating on this as I expected it would be. There is a couple of real risque bits, and usually they give R ratings to good films.
posted by Eric at
3:33 PM
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