&SONS – Film Review

The film & Sons details the realisation of an elderly writer (Bill Nighy) that death is approaching and his desire to set in place some arrangements before his end arrives. His successful, though not satisfying career, meant that his role as a father was not fulfilled to his, nor the family’s, satisfaction.

His current days are now being wasted with alcohol and worry about his youngest son (of 3) and who will look after him when he is gone. He cajoles the two older sons (to his ex-wife) to return and meet with him and seeks their commitment to look after their younger brother.

The plot then takes a fantastical twist, which once accepted by you the audience, and the film’s other characters, sets up the themes that the film explores. These themes are all the result of the writer’s life and the dereliction of his husbandly and fatherly duties. There is a perspective on how we may seek to relive our lives or hope to make things better once the end beckons; there is the angst of the older sons trying to understand their father and whether they should believe his stories while he is still defiant about their upbringing; there is an ex-wife (Imelda Staunton) who beautifully highlights the strength of love in our lives even when it may no longer exist; and there is the confusion of youth as it approaches adulthood and struggles to find the right role model. Lesser themes include the ethics around who owns words once written and the intersection of science and human biology.

I felt the film was engaging but, ultimately, struggled to deal fully with so many themes. I’ve read that the film diverges from the book it is based on (& Sons by David Gilbert) yet the same struggle seems to accompany reviews of the book. Perhaps a case where the story, in the novel and the screenplay, needs to be pruned so that it can be digested satsifactorily.

I felt the actors delivered well on the script but that the latter needed to be clearer on its goals. Despite these qualms, the audience at my screening, was spellbound and attentive, like me, wanting to see where the consequences created by the father’s recall of his sons to his side, and his fantastical reveal, led the story. That is commendable in a character-based film that lasts just short of two hours.

If I were to compare the film to a meal, it felt like a menu that promised much, the food tasted good enough but there was a mismatch between the promise and the final consumption.

*By Michael (Bres) Bresnahan

Bres wasn’t sure of his rating. Our Editor reckons 7/10!

Opening soon at a Luna Cinema near you.

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