Rating: 
Summary: Spare, economical psychological tug-of-war
Review: Sure, there is little plot to speak of, but this modest film still manages to fascinate with its psychological vagueness. Yes, it's slow, and yes, there isn't any action. I really didn't notice the camera "shakiness"--after the "Bourne Supremacy" car chase nothing will make my stomach churn as violently, not even "The Riddler" at Magic Mountain. This movie is a character study, which is why there are only two actors credited in the DVD filmography. The film lasers in on the complex feelings of anger and forgiveness a man feels after losing his son, and then finding out that perhaps his murderer isn't so different than the deceased boy. It plays out like a tense game of cat and mouse: does Olivier plan to somehow injure the teen, or does he want to seek redemption by digging into the boy's psyche and seeing what dwells there? Is the boy remorseful? Or did the time spent in prison harden him, and make him a potential recidivist?
The ending is rather abrupt, but it was a refreshing change of pace from the meldramatic predictability of mainstream films. The last ten minutes for me were extremely intense. Gestures and words could be misinterpreted and deemed dangerous. I enjoyed this movie because I worked with troubled adolescents in a psychiatric center, and despite some of their repulsive qualities, they displayed surprising vulnerability that would appeal to even the most jaded counselors. Some of the kids were predators, but the majority just wanted to feel valued. Can you forgive someone for a shocking act that tears a life apart? Or will you respond with hatred and anger and possibly repeat a vicious cycle that leaves no survivors emotionally intact? Will rejecting the boy make him less empathetic toward others? Or will acceptance change the very behavior that led to the boy's senseless killing and incarceration? These are important questions that are relevant to America's juvenile justice system.
Rating:
Summary: Forgiveness or Revenge? One man's Emotional Turmoil
Review: A film from Beigium directed by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne ("Rosetta"). Like Rosetta, "The Son (Le Fils)" explores the emotional turmoil of the protagonist, and watching the process would be torment to some people. Still, great acting of Oliver Gourmet is so impressive that those fans who respect the realistic approach to human behavior will be satisfied with the end result.Olivier (Olivier Gourmet) is working at a carpentry school, but when a new student Francis is sent to the class, he starts to act a little strangely. He is clearly interested in Francis, but he is also afraid of having it known by the others. But he still keeps on peeping at him from behind the wall, not knowing what to do with himself. But why? The reason is revealed after 30 minutes (and if you don't want to know it, skip this paragraph). The fact is, Olivier knew Francis killed his son. Still. Olivier takes Francis as a new student, teaching the craft of carpenrty works. Laconic Francis (not knowing the identity of Olivier) begins to feel attached to the teacher, but ... what is Olivier really thinking about? Revenger? Forgiveness? Or he does not know his true mind either? "The Son" goes on like this, without superfluous dialogues, shot with a hand-held camera. Each take goes on very long, sometimes several minutes without cut, and often the image is shot behind the head of Olivier, as if letting us share his viewpoint. Evidently the directors did thorough rehearsals before shooting, because each shot is realized with the calculated movement of camera. But the real virtue of the film lies in Olivier Gourmet (seen also in "Read My Lips" and others), who gives a terrific acting full of nuance and emotion. The troubled mind of Olivier comes so natural onto the screen that you almost forgive the film's too arty attitudes (no soundtrack, for instance, like Dogme films). Frankly, I think that "The Son" is a kind of film that appeals more critics than to general audiences. But Olivier Gourmet's performance is a genuine one. Director Luc Dardenne says that the film is partly inspired by the real-life murder case in Liverpool in 1993. Probably English people remember the case I refer to. As his comment shows, the film deals with an immediate topic in a unique way, and like reality itself, "The Son" is often ambiguous, which becomes the strength of it. Not my cup of tea, I admit, but still well worth watching.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Good
Review: I cannot believe I wasted an hour-and-half of my own boring life to watch someone else's even more boring life on screen. It's hard to imagine this film was included in Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival. I understand all the themes and emotional subtexts and mumbo-jumbo, but this movie is plain crap. Not just crap but plain and dull crap. There's no background music and extremely minimal dialogue (and very uninteresting dialogue mind you). The plot is... well.. not much of one. Not to mention this film has one of the most inconclusive endings I have ever witnessed. This movie is supposedly driven by it's characters, but I felt they were just completely ordinary characters for a completely ordinary movie. The only thing that came off as interesting was the way the film was shot. But even the shaky camera technique lost all its fun by the end. There was a lot of praise and favorable word of mouth surrounding this movie, but I wound up severely disappointed.
>> 2 stars for little to no entertainment value whatsoever.
-the enlightened one
Rating: 
Summary: Great if you like necks, shoulders, and hair
Review: I love a good film and generally abhor effects flix that lack good writing, good dialogue and heart (like the Lord of the Rings series). Give me reality! But don't give me a home movie passing itself off as art, as with The Son. This movie was poorly shot and insufferably paced. When people sit, they sit and sit and sit and sit. When they drive, they drive and drive and drive and drive. When they look, they look and look and look and look. Have these film makers never heard of editing? We get the point! Forty minutes into this cinematic water torture, I was thanking Hitachi for the Fast Foreword button on my remote. It's no exaggeration to say that most of this film consists of the back of Gourmet's head (he really needs to get that growth behind his right ear looked at) and other shots taken inches from the characters' faces. The occasional long shot comes as blessed relief. It also seems the cameramen attended the Blair Witch school of cinematography (if it can be called that). The handheld videocam nonsense will have any person with an alimentary canal reaching for Dramamine or Ginger within minutes. It's a wonder I can type, as I'm literally reeling from motion sickness. Suffice it to say that The Son is a story that any film maker who knows how to frame a shot and edit could have told in 40 minutes. It also has one of the most inconsequential endings of all time. Indeed, I rewound just to make sure the DVD hadn't skipped. Perhaps it really did skip--just as I should have skipped this pretentiously boring waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: give me a break!
Review: if you like this movie and gave it 4 to 5 stars, pls buy or rent the other wonderful (definitely) similar movie: 'dancer in the dark' to get the same shaky camera effect you like. but if you feel dizzy afterwards, don't blame me.
Rating:
Summary: An Intersection of Loathe and Love
Review: THE SON is a quiet film that ends up shouting its agony through silence. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne have filmed what at first appears to be just an ordinary working class man's life (Olivier, a carpenter with apprentices, played with subtle perfection by Olivier Gourmet), following it closely, slyly introducing Olivier's ex-wife (Isabella Soupart) with whom he no longer has contact save for a tragedy they share, and then darkens the picture with the presence of a 16 year old apprentice Francis (Morgan Marinne) who we instantly know has some mystery behind him. Olivier watches the boy's every move, discovers that the boy has just been released form prison where he was incarcerated since age 11 for theft and murder. Olivier realizes this is the boy responsible for his son's death five years ago and he takes Francis under his wing, his motivation remains unsure until the film's surprising end. This is verismo at its peak - just an emotionally charged story, simple, without accoutrements. There is no music soundtrack, only silence and very very little dialogue. But because of this starkness, the significance of the movie is all the more powerful. Perhaps this film is not for everyone: patience and a parcel of time are required to savour it. But THE SON is one of those films that stays in you gut long after the viewing.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Personal Connection with Sorrow & Forgiveness...
Review: The two brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne directed Rosetta (1999), which won the Golden Palm in 1999. This time the two brothers bring another unique tale of social importance to the audience in a spectacular story with wisdom, integrity, and artistic value. The Son has some resemblance with Rosetta in regards to the cinematography, which might be compared to the Dogma 95 style. However, this time the two brothers maximize the potential of the camera technique as it serves its ultimate purpose in the story telling.
The camera follows Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a carpenter teacher at an institution for troubled adolescents, wherever he travels. The audience is allowed to peak over Olivier's shoulder to see what he sees and gradually enter his world. Frenetically, Olivier runs around in the building while peaking through windows, around corners, and he makes up excuses to be in locations where he can stare undisturbed at a young male adolescent. Slowly the audience begins to make their own assumptions to why Olivier does what he does.
Olivier eventually gets enough courage to approach the head of the institution as he requests that the new boy, whom he has been secretively stalking, is transferred from the metal craft department to the carpentry department for which he is the supervisor. The head of the institution agrees to Olivier's request, and shortly after he picks up the young adolescent from the metal craft department. Olivier brings the boy to the carpenter department where he closely examines him with his eyes, and provides work pants and tools for him.
The film might appear dreary at first, but this is essential, as the audience will be rewarded for its cerebral participation in the story of the Belgian carpenter Olivier. Through Olivier the Dardenne brothers dissect the audience's perception and participation in the story through what psychologists might call the attribution theory. Through this the film tells an extraordinary story of an ordinary man and his uncharacteristic relationship to a teen.
The Dardenne brothers' minimalist approach to the story does not offer any extravagant flamboyance, which might be seen in Oscar winning films. There are no symbolisms, no analogies, nor additional visual syntaxes to what is ordinarily supposed to be within each frame to enhance a film. The script tells more than what is in the lines, yet it does not provide any clear indications in what direction it is venturing until the very end. The audience is merely suspended to their own knowledge and wisdom as they begin to interpret what the film depicts. In the end, the viewer will have experienced truly brilliant cinema, which offers much insight into life and its many complexities.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully Breathtaking
Review: This film may not be for you. If you like films where some guys outrun Uzi bullets and do other impossible heroic feats, then don't waste your time here. But if you have an interest in the potential of the medium to tell a story that cannot be told in any other way, then see it by all means. This film is the most disciplined and cinematically told story I have ever seen. Its the closest thing to living vicariously through another media I have experienced. You must be patient. You must let the medium work its magic on you. This is a story that can be told in no other way. But trust it, and let it happen, and the payoff is very great. The film is an excercise in brainwave entrainment, mindwave synchronicity. By the end of the film you are breathing with the central protagonist, or holding your breath with him--wholly identified. Of course, it helps if you are a father, youself, but anyone who is someones child should be able to relate--and everyone has experienced loss, and everyone makes mistakes. After all, nobody's perfect. Pay particular attention to the noises in the film. The power tools, the banging of heavy wood, alternating also with the very real sense of quiet, still, aloneness. Prepare to be surprised. The film goes beyond verisimillitude. As the story begins, you are learning about the central figure. You don't know who he is or what his point of view is, but you are learning. By the end of the film you know him so well that you are leaning forward in your seat straining to catch every nuance, feeling his ambivalence, his yearning, his grief, his buring. I ended up remembering the Fire Sermon of the Buddha. It has become a Zen Koan ripened and cracked open like a popped kernel of corn. For--as the Buddha said:
"Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye -- experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs. "The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame. Consciousness at the ear is aflame. Contact at the ear is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the ear -- experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs." This is a deeply experimental film whose second watching yields an entirely different perspective than the first--yet the first is the extra virgin pressing of the olives--it is the precious and rareified squeezing. Be careful not to ruin it by reading too many reviews--and shame on those critics who tell too much. Just see it.
Rating:
Summary: truth is in the detail
Review: This is a marvellous film. For me anyway, it constitutes a masterpiece. This is certainly not a film for anyone looking for easy excitement. As the central protaganist slowly comes to realise, meaning is something that reveals itself after a great deal of attentiveness and work. The meaning is in the attentiveness and patience to detail, and there is certainly plenty of detail in this finely crafted work. It is this description of the ordinary that constitues its deeply spiritual core. There is revelation at the end, but it is a quiet, understated yet realistic opening out to a greater awareness. In a word, the film deals with such issues as anger, revenge, hurt, incomprehension, and maybe more importantly, it is a subtle study of the often mysterious workings of patience, understanding, love and forgiveness. The graphic on the DVD jacket foregrounds very well one of the central metaphors of this film, namely, that we all need to find, from somewhere, the grace and humility needed to carry one's cross through life. This is definitely a film to be savoured more than once.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent French film worthy of a wider audience
Review: This is an excellent but sadly neglected French film.
The cast, Olivier Gourmet, as the Carpentry Teacher and Morgan Marinne, as his student, are routinely excellent.
As is the story and direction, by the Dardenne brothers who have come up with a strikingly original film.
The story, of Olivier, a Carpentry teacher who teaches teenage
offenders picks up when we learn that his latest student is responsible for the murder of Olivier's infant son in a robbery.
The convicted fellon, Francis, now being rehabilated with a trade, is a gentle, quiet boy, but all the same we view him threw Olivier's eyes, detached, ambivalent but with deep suspicion.
Does Olivier intend revenge or is he only seeking answers.
He becomes so close to the boy that Francis asks Olivier innocently, if he'll become his guardian.
The denouement of this movie, where the main two characters travel alone to a deserted timber yard, is wonderfully handled. It will keep you guessing right to the end.
A fantastic film, expertly produced, excellently acted.
The film is subtle but also absorbing. A real must see!
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