{"id":25920,"date":"2023-01-18T22:32:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T06:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25920"},"modified":"2023-01-18T22:32:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T06:32:08","slug":"the-son-doesnt-feel-authentic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25920","title":{"rendered":"THE SON Doesn\u2019t Feel Authentic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 123 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Sony Pictures Classics opens at theaters\nnationwide on January 20th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season sees a lot of Oscar hopefuls vying to get\nattention and earn themselves coveted Academy Award nominations. Sometimes,\nthese titles earn praise and go on to be major contenders. Others, well, come\nacross as stilted misfires and quickly disappear from view. The Son<\/em> has\na wonderful cast and a writer\/director coming off a major triumph with his 2020\neffort The Father<\/em>, which won Academy Awards for Best Actor and\nScreenplay. Alas, this effort turns out to be the latter of two scenarios\ndescribed above. It\u2019s a well-intentioned mess that doesn\u2019t make the intended\nimpact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the arrival of a new baby with partner Beth (Vanessa\nKirby), divorcee Peter (Hugh Jackman) attempts to juggle his busy career and\nfatherhood. Things get considerably more complicated with the unexpected\narrival of Peter\u2019s ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern), who reports that their teenage\nson Nicholas (Zen McGrath) is behaving strangely and has not attended school\nfor weeks. Peter confronts the lad, and the evasive teen asks if he can move in\nwith his dad, Beth and the newborn. The father agrees, hoping to set the boy\nback on the right path. But as the stay progresses, tension arises between all\nparties and Nicholas\u2019s condition worsens. These difficulties force Peter to\nreevaluate his parental methods and confront his own chilly father (Anthony\nHopkins).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is plenty of dramatic material to work with here, including issues like depression and suicide, as well as parental responsibilities and how to handle psychological problems within the family. And there are a few quiet, genuine and moving moments featuring Peter remembering happier times with his son at a much younger age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, there is a lot of artifice to this production\nand the movie deals with its serious subject in a less-than-subtle manner. From\nthe outset, Nicholas clearly displays signs of depression. Yes, the youth does\ninform his dad that he is attending school again and occasionally musters\nsomething other than a scowl at his new guardians. And the lead is depicted as\na man who might not catch every self-destructive trait in his son\u2019s behavior.\nHowever, Nicholas\u2019s odd, unsettling acts and comments are so prevalent that it\nbecomes difficult to buy into the lead, or any other of the characters\ninvolved, as being this clueless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This falseness isn\u2019t helped by the setting either. Much of the film takes place in the glossy apartment of Peter, Beth and the newborn. The new baby is adorable, but is frequently taken away from the living room to a nearby nursery. That isn\u2019t jarring, yet for a movie detailing the struggles and difficulties involved in being new parents, the infant never causes a single problem and seemingly fades into the background. The trio of characters converse loudly, argue, and at one point crank up their stereo and dance… with the infant in the next room. Most parents will ask how a napping baby wouldn\u2019t be awakened by such noise (they may also wonder where they can purchase their seemingly magical soundproof door). It certainly doesn\u2019t add authenticity to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And when the drama intensifies, the characters and their\nconduct become even more unnatural and amplified. A conversation between Peter\nand his father dealing with their strained relationship and regrets could have\nbeen handled in a thoughtful way, but the pop is never presented as anything\nbut a monster and it quickly devolves into bickering. Even some of the\nquarreling between Peter and Beth seem absurd. After Nicholas shows even more\nerratic behavior, Peter suggests that the couple accept the youth\u2019s offer to\nbabysit their newborn while they attend a party. The debate that follows only\nearns unintentional chuckles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing feels genuine here. The film falls flat and the big finale doesn\u2019t make an emotional impact. Everyone involved in The Son<\/em> is extremely talented and they\u2019ll all bounce back from this earnest blunder, but the exaggerated presentation of the important issues contained feel fraudulent and the final product preposterous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 123 minutes This film from Sony Pictures Classics opens at theaters nationwide on January 20th. This season sees a lot of Oscar hopefuls vying to get attention and earn themselves coveted Academy Award nominations. Sometimes, these titles earn praise and go on to be major contenders. Others, well, come across as stilted misfires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,1584,5741,6251,9464,12132,19277,22243,22244,22245,22247,23676],"class_list":["post-25920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-anthony-hopkins","tag-depression","tag-drama","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-laura-dern","tag-suicide","tag-the-son","tag-the-son-film-review","tag-the-son-movie-review","tag-the-son-review","tag-vanessa-kirby"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}