The son is a film adaptation of the literary work of Florian Zeller. This work belongs to the trilogy of The father, Mother and The son. The movie of The father (2020) has already been adapted with great success and acclaimed by critics and the academy, winning the Oscar for best adapted screenplay and Anthony Hopkins as best actor. Now, Hugh Jackman stars in this second adaptation that for sure, cwill move many viewers. Do you want to read the full review of El Hijo? Continue reading the article.
The Son does not surpass The Father
The debut of Florian Zeller It was so outstanding that it makes it very difficult to live up to it. With such a good debut, the expectations for a second film are always high and many times, not necessarily good. Unfortunately, this has been the case for The son, a film clearly inferior to the director’s previous one. The narration in The father it is exquisite, an upward evolution until reaching a final dramatic tension that makes you empathize with the person mainly affected and with the family. It has not been the case The sonwhich has a very flat narrative in this regard and although it leaves a good premise in the initial moments, it maintains a very neutral pace until the final climax.
Although there are moments that do work, The son lacks subtleties that enrich the story, everything is quite visible and although the initial premise is very interesting, the characters end up repeating behaviors and arguments without any type of evolution or involution. In this sense, editing does not help to make the narrative of the film more fluid, since some cuts intercede in the narrative sense and the drama is lost between scenes. The order of the same and triggers is wrong, you move a conversation in an interesting direction only to be abandoned along the wayas may be the case with Beth’s conversation (Vanessa Kirby) with Nicholas (zen mcgrath), since a rapprochement between the two characters would have helped to develop the conflict.
Hugh Jackman does a great performance
If there is any common element between The father and The son They are his great performances. Anthony Hopkins he won the Oscar for Best Actor thanks to his performance, but he was accompanied by an exquisite cast that left a great level in terms of dramatic art. In this case, I have the same feeling The sonwhere Hugh Jackman shine above the rest and he manages to represent with great truth the portrait of a father who carries the burden of his childhood on his shoulders and see how he is making the same mistakes that they had with him. In the same way, Laura Dern and above all, Vanessa KirbyThey print a lot of emotion in their roles and are the best of the film. However, I have mixed feelings with the performance of zen mcgraththat At times, he manages to convey the internal torment of the character with a glance, and at others, he overacts, subtracting the veracity of the text. Besides, Anthony Hopkinswho reappears in this film, is stellar in his small contribution.
Final conclusion of The Son
At the end of the film, despite its shocking endingI don’t have the feeling that they have conveyed the message well, not even the torment that the character in zen mcgrath. Although the focus is placed on the perspective of the role he plays Hugh Jackmanthe son’s part should have been more developed to understand the pain of the character well, because in this way, it is not very clear if it has only been a presentation of a real situation that occurs, if he attacks these conflicts or how to address them. It seems to me a mistake to idealize a supposed perfect life for the character of Zen McGraft in the final fantasywhen it’s too late, instead of focusing on parental mistakes. El Hijo is a correct film that could have gone much further.