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Roeper Pans ‘The Son’ Despite Hugh Jackman’s Performance
By Richard Roeper
Signal Contributing Writer
1/2 (out of four) Sony Pictures Classics presents a film directed by Florian Zeller and written by Zeller and Christopher Hampton. Rated PG-13. In theaters.
Shocking.
Given that director and co-writer Florian Zeller’s “The Father” was a powerful and nuanced and creatively presented original work, with Anthony Hopkins winning an Oscar for his moving portrayal of a man with advancing dementia, it’s truly shocking how Zeller’s “The Son” is such a tone-deaf, emotionally manipulative, leaden stumble into the abyss.
While not a prequel or in any way related to “The Father,” this is part of a Zeller trilogy of plays, which also include “Le Pere” (which was adapted into “The Father”) and “The Mother.” Perhaps “The Son” was an effec-
atres • Santa Clarita Signal 5.9” date: delivery date: tive stage drama when it premiered in Paris in 2018 and was later translated into English and presented in London a year later, but as a work of cinema, it’s sorely lacking in insight, character development and authentically earned emotion.
Tuesday, January 17, 2023 at 3:06:41 PM CASCS _ LEM0122-0126.qxp
Sunday-Thursday, January 22-26, 2023
MISSING C 1:10 4:20 7:20 When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape... and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.
THE SON C 4:20 PM A drama that follows a family as it falls apart and tries to come back together again. A couple of years after his parents’divorce, 17year-old Nicholas no longer feels he can stay with his mother, Kate. He moves in with his father Peter and Peter’s new partner Beth.
A MAN CALLED OTTO C 1:00 4:00 7:00 Otto is a grumpy isolated widower with staunch principles, strict routines and a short fuse, who gives everyone in his neighborhood a hard time as he watches over it like a hawk. Will an unlikely friendship with new neighbors help him change?
PLANE E 1:20 4:10 7:20 In the white-knuckle action movie PLANE, pilot Brodie Torrance saves his passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island - only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning.
M3GAN C 1:30 4:30 7:30 A toy company who uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN. After unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, Gemma enlists the help of the M3GAN prototype - a decision that has unimaginable consequences.
PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH B 1:30 4:30 7:10 Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll. Puss has burned through eight of his nine lives, though he lost count along the way. Getting those lives back will send Puss in Boots on his grandest quest yet.
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER C 1:20 6:30 “Avatar The Way of Water”begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive and the tragedies they endure.
THE WHALE E 7:10 PM A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.
THE FABELMANS C 1:00 PM A coming-of-age story about a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves. TM NEWHALL 22500 Lyons Ave. info Line 310.478.3836 Bringing the Finest in Film to the SCV!
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Plot twists are telegraphed scenes in advance. The dialogue is filled with speeches and turns of phrases that sound overwritten. Perhaps most egregious of all, we’re hit with an epilogue that toys with the viewer’s emotions in an almost cruel manner.
Hugh Jackman delivers an earnest performance and almost manages to overcome the screenplay’s shortcomings as Peter Miller, a successful and workaholic New York lawyer who’s on the verge of landing a dream job as a political consultant in Washington, D.C. Career-wise, things couldn’t be better, and Peter’s home life is also on the upswing, now that he’s living in Brooklyn with his beautiful and quite younger partner, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and they’ve recently welcomed a newborn son.
All seems idyllic — until the moment when Peter’s ex-wife, Kate (Laura Dern), shows up at the door in a state of panic, informing Peter that their 17-year-old son, Nicholas (Zen McGrath), has been ditching school for a month and has been cutting himself. Kate tells Peter that Nicholas’ cold and distant behavior scares her, and it’s decided Nicholas will come live with Peter for a while.
Of course, that means Nicholas is coming to live not only with his father but with the woman he blames for wrecking his parents’ marriage, and his infant half-brother. Poor Beth correctly surmises she’s going to be the one at home with Nicholas for long stretches of time, while Peter continues to work long hours in Manhattan.
Lensed in somber and depressing tones with ominous shadows everywhere, “The Son” repeatedly engages in heavy-handed messaging, e.g., when Peter notices a new intern at the firm and clearly wishes his son could be like this bright and ambitious and well-adjusted young man, as he watches him walk down the hallway. Equally off-base are the rare light moments between father and son, as when Peter joins Nicholas for some cereal as they sit and watch cartoons on a Saturday night, as if Nicholas is 7 years old and not 17. (Not to mention the obligatory flashback scenes to that one sun-dappled vacation when Nicholas was a little boy
and seemed happy and welladjusted.) Even though the warning signs are everywhere that Nicholas is deeply troubled and in need of professional help, Peter and Kate both act as if they’ve never heard of depression. It’s as if “The Son” is mired in the 1940s and not the present day. The many Major Confrontational Scenes aren’t much better. A typical exchange between father and son: “You have to do something, you can’t just let things go like this.” “I can’t deal with any of it. … I don’t know how to describe it.” “Just tell me in your own words.” “It’s life. It’s weighing me down.”PHOTO COURTESY IMDB “What is it about life that isn’t working for you?” This conversation, for one. The most effective scene in “The Son” takes place in the mansion of Peter’s father (Hopkins, in a blistering cameo), where old wounds are reopened and Peter once again complains about his father abandoning their dying mother, and his father tells him to “just f---ing get over it.” At least Peter’s father is willing to acknowledge things were terrible, unlike Peter and Kate, who are in a constant state of denial and keep making the wrong decisions about Nicholas’ well-being. One of the biggest problems with “The Son,” unfortunately, is the casting of the key role of Nicholas. The young Australian actor Zen McGrath doesn’t have extensive credits, and he comes across as too inexperienced and unskilled to convincingly play a young man who feels like he’s drowning every day and isn’t sure why. It’s an uncomfortably amateurish performance. (It doesn’t help that the character of Nicholas is underwritten, and we never get beneath the surface and gain any insights into his depression. He’s just sad and immature and angry, and that’s that.) “The Son” is one of the most disappointing films of the last few years. Copyright 2022 Chicago Sun-Times
