Rating: 
Summary: Good idea, pleasant acting, zero for execution
Review: A naturalist Italian movie about the life of a psychologist and his family faced with trials and tribulations. Any naturalist movie is heavily dependent on the attraction of its characters and the things they do. In this case, big zero. The father is a psychologist that is so incompetent that his patients again and again criticize him for his total incompetence, and we don't see him do actual work (although we do see the typical plethora of weird patients on the couch). Nanni Moretti's acting and directing is delightful but he has not given himself anything to do. The mother seems to do little else than advance the plot, and the daughter could be more interesting if she was fleshed out at all. I could see the rating for this movie go down in my head as it went on, out of boredom. It's a good idea for a movie, Moretti is pleasant to watch, but he gets a zero for execution.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: A very special film on the concept of pain, anguish and familiar drama. Before seeing it, be prepared to see a wonderful but strong film. A couple of scenes are like a punch in the stomach; not in terms of violence, not at all. But in terms of deep sufference. Simply unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Meditation on Life through a Death
Review: For those who have experienced the impact of an abrupt loss in the death of a loved one, this beautiful film offers solace, companionship, and meditation about the value of life. The film has been so widely reviewed that the story is well known: a middle class Italian family - a psychotherapist father, a devoted mother, a teenage daughter and son - seem to have all the joy of the closely knit family of everyone's dreams. A small kink of a minor crime by the son in this placcid life is dealt with and yet is compounded by an accidental drowning of the son. The effect this loss has on the family, especially the father, is at once devastating but has healing resolutions. The son's girlfriend gains entry into this grieving family and together they find the journey to recovery. Many lessons here: how does a successful therapist cope with his own personal loss? how does a broken family unit re-enter life? how does an unknown but extended part of the family make an impact on this grieving and become part of the healing? All of this is told in the simplest way, photographed beautifully, and acted superbly. A gentle and lovely film for thoughts long after the screen credits fade.
Rating:
Summary: Meditation on Life through a Death
Review: For those who have experienced the impact of an abrupt loss in the death of a loved one, this beautiful film offers solace, companionship, and meditation about the value of life. The film has been so widely reviewed that the story is well known: a middle class Italian family - a psychotherapist father, a devoted mother, a teenage daughter and son - seem to have all the joy of the closely knit family of everyone's dreams. A small kink of a minor crime by the son in this placcid life is dealt with and yet is compounded by an accidental drowning of the son. The effect this loss has on the family, especially the father, is at once devastating but has healing resolutions. The son's girlfriend gains entry into this grieving family and together they find the journey to recovery. Many lessons here: how does a successful therapist cope with his own personal loss? how does a broken family unit re-enter life? how does an unknown but extended part of the family make an impact on this grieving and become part of the healing? All of this is told in the simplest way, photographed beautifully, and acted superbly. A gentle and lovely film for thoughts long after the screen credits fade.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, Strong, and Moving -- In Other Word, a Must-See
Review: How can I write a review about this film? The story is so simple, but the final effect is so moving, and the ending scene and its music still haunts my mind. "The Son's Room" follows an Iralian family living in a local seaside town. Giovanni, father, is a psychiatrist, who sees a bunch of strange patients every day; he is just an ordinary guy who loves jogging or playing tennis with his apparently passive son. But suddenly his peaceful life changes one day when a patient calls him on Sunday. The father cancels his promise with his son, who instead goes scuba diving to the sea. Because of fateful decision, Giovanni and his family are never to see his son again. The remaining family member tries to pull themselves together, but they gradually fall apart until one day an unknown girl knocks on their door. She turns out to be a girlfriend who shared a one-day romance with their son. They come to know, through her story and photo, one secret love the son did not have a chance to disclose, and slowly come to terms with the grim reality. The simplicity of the film is deceptive. Some critics foolishly ignored the subtle touch of the film, which is deftly interwoven into the story. For instance, a teacher tells the parents that their son might have stolen a fossil sample from the school. Look how the father, apparently confident in his son's innocence, sneaks into his son's room only to be totally buffled. After all, parents don't know anything about their children. Or, see how one photograph their son's girl friend brings to them reveals his hidden character. The lost son is radiently smiling in the photo, which he never showed in front of the father, who wrongly considered his son doesn't have dynamic energy a youth should have. It is a great irony majestically realized
Rating:
Summary: Can someone embrace the idea of death?
Review: I loved this film like i haven't loved many films before . The story of a family which after the death of it's youngest member , Andrea is torn apart and slowly tries to be reborn from it's own ashes is bittersweet and deeply moving . What nakes Moretti's movie so direct and human is the simplicity with which it's director choses to tell his story . The genuin warmth on the faces of the four truly wonderfull actors which carry the film is something you rarely get the chance to find on the big screen . It's relatively hard to express with words the magic of " The Son's Room " . Let me put it this way : when someone manages to capture so well on camera family peace and right after , family decomposion then you simply can't help but being affected . With the beautifull " By This River " by Brian Eno playing a key-role to the final scene , a movie that is bound to grow on you reaches to it's end .
Rating: 
Summary: For those who have seen the movie
Review: Ideal couple lost one of their two kids -- their son. That is all of the story; all other details (»tiny crime act« of their son at the beginning, father's feeling of guilt...) have the only function to prove that we are looking at the ideal family. Death of a child IS tragedy!!! And it carries very intimate moments of pain so questions is should those moments be exposed without any other reason but »to touch human heart« even in such form as movie is. The other very important fact is that death of a child (UNFORTUNATELY) is not very rare and thousands of such movies, based on the true stories, could be made every year -- the most of them even more tragic -- just ask yourself how many children can afford diving equipment and how many children died of bombs and bullets, how many children died because of lack of food or medicine... At the end of the movie family refinds its lost »idealness« by driving to the other country (is the reason important?). Is there message: if you have lost your child but do not have car or you can not afford to drive to the other country...? This movie seems to be almost mocking to the most of the parents who lost their children. Is it really so easy to »hide wood behind one tree«??? qui@usa.com
Rating:
Summary: Moving
Review: Italian director and actor Nanni Moretti delivers a deeply moving meditation on the nature of grief and loss with "The Son's Room." Moretti plays Giovanni, a respected psychoanalyst, who leads a normal and happy life with his wife Paola and their two teenage children. But when Andrea, their son, suddenly dies in a diving accident, the family is forced to deal with this tragedy as best they can. It would be easy for the film to become so depressing and sad as to be unwatchable, but somehow that does not happen. The characters are so well drawn that, while you feel all their heartbreak, you know they will stay together and eventually find a way to deal with this. This is a beautiful film. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Touching and Intelligent
Review: Moretti's film captures in an amazingly beautiful way what is arguably the worst possible kind of loss - that of one's offspring.
There is no self-indulgence here, no overacting, no commonplace. This is some beautiful work by one of Italy's cleverest actors/directors.
Rating:
Summary: The Buddhist Way
Review: Must say that I've been waiting for a film like this for a long time. Nothing fancy, just beautiful, elegant, and detailed. Most of the time I was not aware that I was watching a film. It was that real. The film may have a simple look, but the philosophy/attitude that helps the family to come through the crisis is not. The Buddhist ideas revealed in the film are not some new age bull but sincere and inspiring. And I find the ending extremely powerful yet soothing. This is a great film made by a filmmaker who knows the medium really, really well.
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