Movie Reviews

‘The Son’ Review: Hugh Jackman is Outstanding in Florian Zeller’s Otherwise Unrewarding Dirge

Published

2 years ago

September 7, 2022

‘The Son’ Review: Hugh Jackman is Outstanding in Florian Zeller’s Otherwise Unrewarding Dirge

Hugh Jackman’s affecting efficiency as a father accustomed to managing each scenario, in over his head together with his clinically depressed teenage son, gives a plaintive emotional middle to Florian Zeller’s second characteristic. However therein lies the imbalance — this adaptation of the French dramatist’s stage play is named The Son, not The Father, the title of its predecessor. Whereas it’s a part of the purpose that younger persons are usually unable to articulate the advanced roots of their psychological well being points, that block retains the title determine, and the efficiency of newcomer Zen McGrath in that function, at an anesthetizing distance.

The Sony Classics launch, opening Nov. 11 after Venice and Toronto competition premieres, is a miserable movie about despair. However not as a result of it exhibits noteworthy perception about that sickness or pulls you into the pinnacle of its agonized title determine, Nicholas (McGrath), who lacks the character shading and specificity to be far more than a statistic. Solely within the fumbling makes an attempt of his hotshot lawyer father Peter (Jackman) to nurture him again to stability does Nicholas actually contact us. And the elegant austerity of Zeller’s course makes the end result a given, which turns The Son right into a punishing slog.

The Son

The Backside Line

Stubbornly unemotional.

Peter has settled right into a contented life in Brooklyn together with his new companion, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and their toddler son when ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) turns up on the door distraught about their 17-year-old little one from that marriage. Nicholas has been skipping faculty for a month with no clarification, risking expulsion, and his coldness towards his mom scares her. Peter guarantees to speak to him.

Nicholas exhibits no heat towards his father both; he’s nonetheless feeling the sting of abandonment. When Peter tries to attract him out, all he will get is, “It’s life. It’s weighing me down.” Nicholas needs to return stay together with his father and his child half-brother, making his case by confessing that he’s been having darkish ideas and fearing for his sanity. Beth already has her fingers full taking good care of a new child; she appropriately assumes that with Peter away for lengthy hours at work, she’ll be the one coping with surly Nicholas, whom she barely is aware of.

Like a “Grasp of the Universe,” solely with out the ego, Peter works from a modern metal and glass Midtown Manhattan tower with breathtaking views. He’s been provided his dream job, on a promising political marketing campaign in D.C. However what ought to be a interval of thrilling change turns into one among narrowing choices because the extent of Nicholas’ issues turns into clear. All of a sudden, Peter’s consideration is pulled away from work and his unresolved emotions about his personal sad childhood resurface, making him try to do higher as a mother or father.

The very best scene in The Son is the temporary look of the Oscar-winning lead of The Father, Anthony Hopkins, enjoying Peter’s well-heeled political careerist dad. Lunch on the latter’s stately Washington house is a coolly civil affair till Peter begins in on the outdated man’s parental failings, turning him immediately defensive: “Simply fucking recover from it.” Extra of this sort of savage chew would have introduced wanted tonal variation to Zeller’s one-note new film.

Retreating deeper inside himself, Nicholas refuses to return Kate’s calls, whereas Peter reassures his ex-wife that the boy is doing significantly better, solely seeing what he needs to see. Peter continues to cling to reminiscences of what a contented child his son was, returning in his thoughts to an idyllic household boating trip in Corsica. He finds himself spouting the identical platitudes that made him resent his personal father.

However all that contributes to maintaining Nicholas stranded on the margins in his personal story. He begins a brand new faculty with no enchancment, consents to minimal communication together with his therapist and will get caught self-harming. “It relieves me,” he tells his father of the reducing. “It’s a option to channel the ache.” By the point he makes his first suicide try and Peter and Kate are pressured to contemplate a psych ward, there’s just one manner a film this dour can go.

The only real second of aid — except for the Corsica flashbacks and a characteristically Zeller-esque deception close to the tip — is a contented night throughout which Beth coaxes Peter into busting out the dance stylings that first caught her eye. Nicholas loosens up sufficient to imitate his dad’s exuberantly goofy strikes as unfamiliar laughter erupts from him. However that’s not a lot of a lifeline of hope to throw your viewers.

Any mother or father or relative who has needed to expertise the sorrow of watching a baby shut themselves off from the world will little question be moved by this distressing situation and by the arduous questions it reveals. It’s admirable that Zeller — working together with his longtime translator and screenwriting collaborator Christopher Hampton — declines to attempt analyzing suicidal despair. As a substitute, he presents it as a personal hell that gives no entry for the individuals who love Nicholas.

As with so many youngsters of divorce, Nicholas’ loyalties bounce abruptly in any given second between his mother and father, even generally doing a persuasive impersonation of being at peace with them each. However he’s by no means at peace with himself, as a lot as Peter and Kate attempt to persuade themselves in any other case.

The play on which the movie relies is the completion of a trilogy by Zeller about unraveling minds, following The Father, which examined the advancing dementia of an aged man; and The Mom, a few girl steadily unhinged by middle-aged vacancy.

Whereas Zeller’s psychodramas are severe to a fault, they toy with distorted actuality, designed to maintain the viewers as disoriented because the respective title characters. However on this case, there are too few grey areas within the character examine, and McGrath is simply too inexperienced an actor to idiot anybody into considering Nicholas is getting it collectively. That makes the drama one among grim inevitability, appropriately accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s somber orchestral rating.

The at all times watchable Dern is as unchallenged right here as she was within the dismal Jurassic World Dominion earlier this summer time, merely referred to as upon to worry and plead. Kirby has extra to work with, as Beth turns into torn between her commitments as a brand new mom and duty towards her companion to do what she will be able to for a teen who’s overtly hostile towards her. The pressure on Beth’s relationship with Peter is performed with palpable stress and a welcome brittle edge by Kirby beneath the great intentions.

However that is Jackman’s film. He makes Peter’s helplessness intensely transferring as he retains making an attempt, towards mounting odds and false breakthroughs, to speak with a baby who stays out of attain. Sadly, that goes for The Son, as a lot because the son.

Movie Reviews

LOVE LIES BLEEDING Review

Published

5 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a modern, vicious film noir. A lesbian woman named Lou is estranged from her vicious father Lou Sr. yet manages a decrepit gym he owns in their desert town. Jackie, a female drifter, arrives in town and engages in back-seat, adulterous sex with JJ, who’s married to Lou’s sister, Beth. Lou is instantly attracted to her when she flexes her muscles. The two women soon begin a tawdry sexual relationship.Beth winds up in a hospital when JJ viciously beats her offscreen. Jackie has been abusing steroids to build muscle. She flies into a murderous rage and brutally kills JJ. A string of double-crosses explodes. Can Lou bring down her father and his illicit crime machine? Is Jackie a serious love interest or a con artist?

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a modern-day, highly immoral, sleazy take on the film noir genre. It features a graphic lesbian relationship, numerous scenes of graphic violence, substance abuse, and abundant foul language. The movie has a twist-filled script, fast pacing and gritty performances, but it repulsed the vast majority of moviegoers at the box office.

(PaPaPa, HoHoHo, LLL, VVV, SSS, NN, AA, DD, MMM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Vicious, promiscuous, totally immoral movie filled with violence and sex, especially lesbian sex;

Foul Language:

At least 78 obscenities (including 65 “f” words), three strong profanities using Jesus Christ and a gross scene where a woman has to unclog a clogged toilet;

Violence:

Numerous people are shot in graphically bloody fashion with sickening wounds and shocking sound effects, woman shoots another woman in the head and causes blood to splatter all over the camera, woman beats a man to death, woman breaks that man’s jawbone wide open as she slams his head repeatedly into a table, abused wife is hospitalized by a particularly brutal yet offscreen beating that leaves her face severely bruised and swollen, another character tortures this woman by pressing hard against her facial injuries, woman shoots another man in a shootout then shoves the barrel of her gun into his mouth, takes the gun back out but smashes the gun into his face to kill him, and a woman is shown waking up from a seemingly fatal gunshot wound, but another woman chokes her to death and dumps her body in the desert;

Sex:

Graphic lesbian sex scenes, particularly showing oral sex, the sex is shown promiscuously on a one-night stand, and later another lesbian blackmails one of the lead lesbians into having relations with her (though this is only implied and discussed, not shown), movie opens with a man having forceful, adulterous sex with a woman from behind in the back of a car, and a lesbian sucks on her girlfriend’s toe;

Nudity:

Several lesbian sex scenes feature female breasts and buttocks but no genitals, another lesbian woman is shown standing with full rear nudity after an implied sex scene, and shirtless men are seen working out in several scenes;

Alcohol Use:

Adults frequently drink alcohol, with one scene showing a woman drunk;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

A woman smokes cigarettes frequently, a female bodybuilder severely abuses steroids throughout, leading to violent outbursts and her vomiting onstage in front of a crowd, and the steroid injections are shown in a sensuous fashion;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Lying, double-crosses, deception rampant throughout, with a dehumanizing use of violence.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a modern-day, highly immoral, sleazy take on the film noir genre that centers on a graphic lesbian relationship, numerous scenes of graphic violence and an abundance of foul language. LOVE LIES BLEEDING has a twist-filled script, fast pacing and gritty performances, but should not be viewed by anyone.

The story centers upon a lesbian woman named Lou (Kristen Stewart), who is estranged from her vicious father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) yet works managing a decrepit gym he owns in their desert town. Meanwhile, a female drifter named Jackie (Katy O’Brien) arrives in town and immediately engages in back-seat, adulterous sex with JJ (Dave Franco), who’s married to Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone).

The backseat liaison results in a job for Jackie at a gun range on the edge of town owned by Lou Jr. She’s just saving up money to finish a trip to Las Vegas for a women’s bodybuilding championship, and when she flexes her massive muscles, Lou is instantly attracted to her.

The two soon engage in a tawdry sexual relationship, but Lou’s happiness is abruptly halted when Beth winds up in a hospital after a vicious (offscreen) beating at the hands of JJ. Lou Sr. wants to keep it all in the family rather than report JJ to the police, which angers Lou greatly.

Jackie has been abusing steroids in order to build muscle for her upcoming competition, and flies into a murderous rage that results in her brutally killing JJ. When Lou and Jackie dump his body in an enormous pit in the desert outside of town, a string of double-crosses explodes as Lou Sr. is determined to find out who killed JJ and federal agents start asking Lou lots of questions about his potentially criminal enterprises.

Can Lou manage to bring her father and his illicit crime machine down? Is Jackie a serious love interest or a con artist using her for her own ends?

LOVE LIES BLEEDING has excellent performances from all of its cast, who bring a wide array of seedy characters to vivid life. Also, Director/Co-writer Rose Glass keeps the twists coming fast and furious throughout the movie’s bonkers second half.

Despite the technical skill with which it’s made, LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a movie that has literally no characters to support and no sense of legal justice – just brutal vigilante revenge meted out several times over. Even Lou becomes utterly reprehensible and heartless by the end, and the movie’s entire mood is demoralizing and dehumanizing.

Packed with graphic violence, sex and nudity and an abundance of foul language, LOVE LIES BLEEDING is utterly distasteful and a must to avoid for viewers of all ages.

Movie Reviews

Love Child (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Can Love and Sacrifice Keep Ayla and Paolo’s Family Together?

Published

13 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

Love Child (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Can Love and Sacrifice Keep Ayla and Paolo’s Family Together?

Rom Coms, the ones that match the endearing and intelligent with equal fluency, have a scintillating flavor. The book of tricks to make a romcom sing and soar may have admittedly gone jaded and dog-eared. The crises of couples, dilemmas, and anxieties they have to battle have undergone dramatic changes in a fast-evolving world. Expectations vary with the decades, even as gendered rules haven’t dented much.

The urge to steal a leaf or two from every standard template Hollywood romcom is immanent in any new derivation. It becomes a constant tussle, hence, for a new film in similar spaces to eke out freshness and smarts. Jonathan Jurilla’s directorial “Love Child” (2024) has little to add or say anything genuinely sparkling. It’s a weary distillation of parental exhaustion and re-alignment, too silly to pass off what it views as clever self-reflexive remarks.

There are basic cardinal rules a romcom must ensure is upheld. Conflicts should ideally resonate across a demographic; humor needs to exist in spades. A helping of self-awareness goes a long way in establishing a winking playfulness. The best rom-coms sail through these assumptions with lightness and spryness.

Love Child (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

Ayla and Paolo’s Journey of Love, Sacrifice, and Resilience

Ayla (Jane Oineza) and Paolo (RK Bagatsing) are young parents. Incidentally, the actors themselves are a couple in real life, who call the film a “free trial” to parenthood. Ayla and Paolo have been exultant about becoming parents but what awaits them is a whole lot of instability, fraught periods of testing faith in each other to weather the hardships of raising their child, Kali (John Tyrron Ramos) who is diagnosed with autism. It’s this diagnosis that opens the film and sends their lives into a tailspin. The two have fought with their families on several counts to realize their togetherness. Dreams have also been put on hold. Paolo is a filmmaker who desires to make it big but naturally meets resistance from his father, from whom he has cut loose.

They arrive in the Philippines to put up at the house that Ayla’s aunt has offered. They don’t have to worry about rent, an exponential anxiety hence taken care of. The first thing they get done is to enroll Kali at a school for children with support needs. They hope he can be addressed with due attention and be given proper time, nourished in a safe, loving, and understanding community.

How Far Will Ayla and Paolo Go to Secure a Future for Their Son?

Of course, things don’t go as smoothly. The money to raise the child is immense, formidable, and persistent. It’s no small task. To exacerbate matters, the couple has no savings to lean on. Ayla has just a small income from a virtual assistant job and Paolo has barely any gigs to draw a livelihood from in the Philippines.

At home back in Australia, opportunities were, at least, higher. Sources of supporting themselves stand a chance. The couple start a coffee cart as an added source of income. Even that isn’t enough. Customers are few. To run the cart is its own demanding affair that strains their purses more than they expected it to.

One night, Kali falls terribly sick. His parents rush him to the hospital, where medical expenses surge. Where will the couple find the money to foot the bill? They are at wit’s end. Pao assures Ayla not to worry. He’ll dredge out a way. However, when he is away scavenging for a source, Ayla already turns to her mother who lends her the needed money. He is angry with her because Ayla’s mother has been refusing to recognize Kali as her grandson. She tells him, if they waited longer, they’d be staring at an added day of hospital expenses.

Love Child (2024) Movie Ending Explained:

Do Ayla and Paolo find a way of raising their child?

Ayla and Paolo are compelled to employ specialized teachers and attendants for Kali. The cost of living becomes exceedingly high. How can they afford it? Ultimately, they edge toward the pained but necessary realization that they have to live apart at least for a while. If that’s the only way they can build a decent future for Kali, they can’t ignore it. What’s significant and decisive is both Ayla and Paolo are wholly committed to being there for Kali, no matter what it takes, as well as underscoring the need to go out and chase their individual aspirations.

Yes, she must pursue her dream of being a lawyer. The climax is a wistful one, with Paolo leaving for Australia where he would brush aside his bruised ego and accept his father’s job offer. He takes the marks of his wife and child, remnants of them he’d carry with him as he moves into an uncertain, yet hope-tinged future in Australia. They part ways with a promise of return. They know he’ll be back when the time is right and resources have accrued enough to carve for them a comfortable life together.

Love Child (2024) Movie Review:

“Love Child” lacks a fundamental, driving vitality and energy. It is only inconsistently curious and sporadic in its plunges into human indecision and the fear of failure. What is that projection we induce when we feel we are turning into reflections of our parents, a reality most horrific and to skirt clear? To encounter such a realization is depressing and upsetting.

The central pair of the film have to negotiate and move past reservations and a bundle of fears popping up. They are opposed to seeking the help of their parents, who have never sided with them in big decisions, but they also understand the need for a bigger family their child ought to have. Having just his parents wouldn’t suffice for Kali to rely on. For his sake, the parents have to look past their grudges and learn to forgive and let go of ill will.