FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Father
MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Florian Zeller
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Imogen Poots
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

What It Is: Anthony (Hopkins) is an older man living in his flat in London. His oldest daughter Anne (Colman) is caring for him as best as she can. You see Anthony has advanced Alzheimers and his memories are all either leaving him or melding with his reality. When Anne introduces a new caretaker to her father named Laura (Poots) it may have revealed he’s worse off then he’s been previously given off. This might lead to Anne having to do something she may not want to.

What We Think: I am probably in the minority here in that I just didn’t like this. The visual cues that tell you what’s what just doesn’t work on initial view. You legitimately HAVE to rewatch this to figure wtf is happening. Olivia Colman gives a good performance as does Hopkins. It’s a movie chock full of great acting with a narrative that lets them down. There were many tears shed in my screening but this one left me mostly confused and cold (and not because it was like 20-degrees Fahrenheit). No instead it was because it’s hard to get behind a story like this when nothing your seeing is concrete.

Our Grade: B-, This is a good film. One that borders on greatness. It truly tries to do something to squeeze waterworks out of the audience. Sadly it just comes off as a little too much. It’s an admirable thing it’s trying to do. Shine the light on this particular mental illness (Alzheimer’s). I think in this regard the film is important and an interesting exploration of themes that just aren’t touched on enough. I commend the film for that…and not much else.