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A movie every father and son should be required to see
together. Jim Broadbent’s towering performance should be remembered at awards
time, and Colin Firth is perfect in this touching drama of memory and
transition.
Story
Positioned as a memory play, When Did You Last See Your Father? attempts to
explore the lifelong relationship between a father dying of terminal cancer and
his son, told through flashbacks and present-day scenes. Arthur Morrison
(Broadbent) and his wife Kim (Juliet Stevenson) are both doctors in a small town
in England. They have two kids, Gillian (Claire Skinner) and older brother Blake
(Firth), who is now an author in his 40s with two kids of his own. The story
revolves around how Blake tries to come to terms with his father’s mortality and
freely travels in time, opening with a sequence in which the 8-year-old Blake
experiences an embarrassing car incident as his father drives the family to an
event. As the film hops and skips through the family’s life--past and
present--we see sad and happy moments, focusing on Blake’s teen years and early
career where dad always seems to upstage him to become the center of attention.
Played out against the drama of Arthur’s imminent death, Blake grows to accept
it--and all that has come before.
Acting
Although there is a fine supporting cast, the film is what they call in the
business a two-hander--a searing drama focusing on the relationship between
father and son, as played by two of Britain’s finest, Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent
and Colin Firth. They are both superb and, by the very nature of the film, given
great opportunity to show their acting chops. It is Broadbent’s film right from
the beginning, however, as his Arthur spans 40 years, while Firth’s role is
shared by some other fine actors (Bradley Johnson, Matthew Beard), playing
younger versions of Blake. Broadbent gives one of those dominating,
over-the-top, confounding portrayals of a proud man whose immense presence
permeates every aspect of his son’s life. Against this kind of formidable
competition, Firth is wonderfully understated and particularly effective in the
film’s final few scenes. Stevenson and Skinner, along with Gina McKee as the
grown Blake’s wife, handle the less demanding female roles with skill and
compassion.
Direction
Director Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie) doesn’t try to overpower the simple
and literate story with any tricks instead letting When Did You Last See Your
Father? live and breathe on its own, powered by exceptional performances and a
first-rate screenplay by David Nichols. Although the film is based on the actual
memoir by the real-life Blake Morrison, the story itself is universal and earns
its laughs--and particularly its tears--by telling universal truths all of us
can identify with. Tucker proves himself to be a fine actor’s director,
especially with Broadbent, whose blustery character could have sailed out of
control. Instead, we understand this man, even if we don’t always like him and
much of that is due to the nicely nuanced command Tucker has over the
proceedings. A small, intimate film with numerous flashbacks like this one is
trickier than it looks, but ultimately it touches the heart and proves a
worthwhile journey perfectly timed for Father’s Day.
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