Rama’s SCREEN

A drama with great acting and an okay production. AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER is the perfect movie for Father’s Day weekend. It’s not too complex and it’s engaging. Some might find this movie boring but for the rest of us who can appreciate movies that matter, this is one great example. It shows… that in his imperfection, a person can also be nothing short of perfect… not because he’s done no flaws, but because love overlooks past mistakes.

Blake Morrison’s (Firth) moving and candid memoir of his father in the weeks leading up to his death. When Arthur Morrison (Broadbent) was diagnosed with terminal cancer he had only a few weeks left to live. Morrison traveled to Yorkshire to stay with his mother in the village where he grew up. As his father’s condition worsened Morrison contemplated their shared experiences, the intimacies and the irritations of their relationship.

There are many movies out there about children dealing with parents or parents trying to control their children. This one deals with the hatred and the embarrassment that the main character has secretly held in his heart for years against his father. He even wishes his father would just stop breathing.

The story does show how the father seems to be a bit eccentric, he exploits his teen child to things that he might not yet want to do.
It’s a story of an angry teenager who feels betrayed because of the secrets his father kept about the other woman.
He doesn’t understand how his own mother could put up with that all those years.
Forgiveness and learning to let go and remember only the good about a person are all the values that the story tries to emphasize.

I think the writer does an excellent job creating some difficulties, making us the audience feel torn apart between siding with the son or siding with the father.
On one hand, we think that the son’s anger is justified and on the other, we think that forgiveness is long overdue and the past is the past.

The flashbacks are subtle and yet they help in showing us the background how it all came to be, what has made the problem escalate.
I think in a way, it’s relevant as well, because some of us have to grow up in a family environment that could drive us insane, but we still put on the fake smile and the fake compliments while our grudge is burning bigger by the day.

AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER is a heartwarming family movie that’s not naive.
Bravo to Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth for their excellent performances. The chemistry, they look like they could actually be father and son.
This movie is an endearing cinematic experience, one that deserves a place in in our hearts and memories for years to come.

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