AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Lawbolisted Powerful

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

malickisawesome On the surface, The Son, the 2002 effort from the Dardenne brothers, concerns itself with a carpenter and his relationship with one of his students. The new student is a juvenile delinquent who got into trouble five years prior for stealing a car radio, and in the process killed the carpenter's son; the carpenter recognizes the young boy but the student does not know whose son he killed. This sounds like the set up for melodrama, in which the carpenter takes his bloody revenge, but in the hands of the Dardennes the film becomes a religious parable about what it means to be human.What moved me the most about the film, beyond the empathetic qualities of the acting and the writing, was the humanity of the storytelling and its implications. The stance of the minimalist camera is hard to pin down. Though seeming to be a contradiction, there is an absence of perspective, or even perception, in the movie. The compositions seem to stem from a non- existent entity. In that way it is as if god is holding the camera. The shots remain in a medium- close-up, usually positioned behind the actors. Common practice, especially in Hollywood, is to frame a character, face towards the camera to allow the audience to directly read the actor's emotions. Such a method implies that people identify with others based on their emotional readout. Yet in The Son, the inverse is true. Odd as it sounds, we recognize the characters as even more human even though we don't see them emoting; perhaps because, the film suggests, that to be human is not necessarily to emote or even to communicate but to be a contained entity capable of benevolence. The carpenter is a prime example. He mirrors Jesus not only in profession but also in forgiving mankind for its sins - in this case forgiving the young boy for killing his son. Yet the carpenter did not come to such a conclusion easily, which is why we are so moved when he does. The death of his son ruined his marriage and is probably the root cause for his bad back, a metaphor for his bottled up pain. At one point in the film, he even bullies the boy into confessing his crime. Before his salvation, he succumbs to temptation; in other words he is human. Unlike most films that derive from a dramatic fantasy, The Son is about life and life lived. If we are to remain with each other, we must treat each other with humanity. If bad things happen to us, we should accept them. If we are presented with a tough situation, we should transcend the possibility to do evil. The Son is not a film with a message; it is a film to live by.

Robyn Nesbitt (nesfilmreviews) The Dardenne brothers shy away from melodramatic flourishes: there's no music in the film, the performances are understated yet profound, and it's the gestures of the characters that are psychologically revealing--as opposed to the dialogue. "The Son" is a shrewd, highly controlled little film from Belgium that slowly builds to an unexpected emotional climax. Though distant and almost documentary-like in style, and it never stops taking us deeper into their personal lives. In other hands, "The Son" could easily have been just another straightforward revenge thriller. Olivier (Olivier Gourmet) is a carpenter who teaches carpentry to troubled teens in the juvenile criminal system learning a vocation. Olivier's routine is interrupted by the enrollment of a new student, Francis (Morgan Marinne), who becomes the object of the carpenter's inexplicable obsession. Initially, Olivier does not tell his wife Magali (Isabella Soupart) about the situation, but after careful consideration, Olivier reveals the secret to her--Francis is the teenager who murdered their child years before hand. After serving his sentence in the juvenile prison, Francis seeks to start anew, and eventually even asks the flummoxed Olivier to become his guardian. Olivier withholds his knowledge from Francis, even as a tentative relationship between the two develops. The tense scenario leads to a climactic confrontation, as the past finally catches up with teacher and student. Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne visual style is claustrophobically disorientating. The camera stays tight on Olivier Gourmet--he is in almost every shot, a hand-held camera films him from his shoulders up, subjecting him to a scrutiny we rarely encounter on screen. The scrutiny pays off, for soon we're able to read into the face of this unsmiling man and an underlying sorrow. This also adds to the sense of suspense and unknowing, while the jerky camera cuts suggest his internal agitation. The film is stripped-bare, and only the essential elements remain.The true challenge posed by the film is not piecing together the story, nor teasing out its meaning, but embracing its implications in our own lives. Not that "The Son" is a "message" film - it isn't - but it is one of the most profoundly moral and human films I have seen in years. On first viewing, the films rigorous method makes for a comparatively demanding viewing. The Dardennes aren't interested in entertaining the viewer-- but in something far more valuable. The difficulty of the first viewing can become challenging, though, ultimately becomes irrelevant in light of its extraordinary rewards.

Daniel Casanova This film is an essay about man to man relationship.And this is a dual side relationship. Father-Son and Master-Apprentice ( or Boss/Employee). Like in real life.Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne explore the deepness of male interaction. We follow the everyday life of a Carpenter named Olivier. He lost his son, some years in the past, in the result of a teenager trying to rob this car, thus killing his son. He (Olivier) sees his ex-wife, which happens to be engaged with someone and waiting for the marriage to come. Olivier, as a Master, receives a kid named Francis Thorion in his local carpentry.He realises that this Francis is the kid who killed his son. Strangely, he accepts the boy even though he feels very confused about the situation.The boy doesn't know who Olivier is. Olivier gets to know where he lives, and even breaks his house in a stroke of curiosity. We sometimes have a feeling he is filling the absence of his son and the hole of paternity (affected by the loss of his son). Other times, we have this strange feeling that he might be preparing to kill Francis, since he acts like a spy. The boy has a very bad background, which kind of makes Olivier slowly understand why he did what he did, even though the rage is visible in Oliviers' actions.The last minutes of the film are overwhelming; Francis is invited to go out and get more knowledge about the kinds of woods. We see Olivier putting a hang and plastic cover in the back of the car. This makes us suspect of a crime being prepared. In a station near the destination Olivier is asked to be Francis' mentor. Like in man's real relations, there isn't much talk. There is a certain degree of distance. Olivier doesn't mention he is able to be Francis mentor. The film ends with the true being told to Francis, resulting in a kind of a hide and seek which ends in equilibrium and harmony, despite the chaos of their backgrounds. There isn't a hug. Man usually try to hide their emotions.All i can say is that this movie is very human and consistent with other works from the Dardenne brothers. A must see.

tedg There are only so many ways to cinematically tell a story, so when we see one that seems new, it charms. The overall value may be worthless — I think this is — but the manner of telling has charm.What we have is a camera tethered to a man, who I guess is in his mid-thirties. There isn't frame that doesn't include him somehow. The camera watches him obsessively: his hands, neck, back. No motion or stance is too minor to evade the lingering camera. No strange behavior or any behavior at all escapes.Meanwhile he is a furtive obsessive. He is a carpentry instructor. One should probably say trainer as he drills his teen students on minute movements for each task. He is obsessive in his own life, doing things with exaggerated precision. In another context, we may cry foul because of actorly overshowing. But the "showing" seems genuinely rooted in the character.We encounter him in a particularly furtive effort. We don't know what the episode involves until later, but it seems to involve a new boy.He peers. He sneaks, he spies and is remote. We eventually discover why — a haunting event from five years prior.Now here's the trick. While we watch him with obsession, the entire film from beginning to end and beyond, is about his watching this boy. While he discovers and accepts this boy in his life, we do the same for him. Its classic folding: as we see him open, we subconsciously do.Unfortunately, we are left with thin rewards for opening our hearts. Because in the end, his character is defined to be valuable for the storytelling method, not the story itself. He doesn't matter.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.