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Father and Son

Father and Son (2003)

tomatometer

73

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

65

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 1,319

My Rating

Movie Info

Award-winning Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) directs the intimate drama Father and Son (Otets I Syn), a companion piece to his 1996 film Mother and Son. Following the death of his wife, a handsome father (Andrej Shetinin) shares an apartment with his son (Alexei Neimyshev). The son goes to military school to train to be a soldier, while the father remembers his own history as a soldier. The father and son develop a strong emotional and physical attachment to one another. The

PG-13,

Art House & International, Drama

Sergei Potepalov

Oct 26, 2004

Wellspring

Cast

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All Critics (44) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (12) | DVD (6)

Although Father and Son is never as deep or wrenching as Mother and Son, the careful casting and Sokurov's unique visual style continue to make this a series worth following.

August 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
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Here was my question for most of this movie: Wha-? I was clueless. Did not understand.

August 13, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment (1)
Washington Post
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The film may be maddeningly obtuse, but its images are dazzling.

August 13, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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The best way to watch Father and Son is to let it wash over you and not be overly concerned with prosaic matters like plot.

July 30, 2004 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Poised and teasing in a way that might incite less patient viewers to madness. But you don't come to Sokurov for his narrative agility, you come for his rhapsodic longueurs.

July 9, 2004 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The opacity of the characters and situations prevents the film from having any true emotional impact.

July 7, 2004
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Visually remarkable look at a gay relationship; one of the richest inside looks at gay love and tenderness.

August 13, 2005 Full Review Source: Classic Film and Television
Classic Film and Television

Alexander Sokurov's obscure new film Father and Son doesn't quite come off.

January 31, 2005 Full Review Source: ToxicUniverse.com
ToxicUniverse.com

Tediously mannered look at the obsessive intimate bonds between a father and his teen-aged military son.

December 5, 2004 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

for a hit of pure cinema, you could do no better...than to spend a few moments reveling in its high

September 30, 2004

This strikingly beautiful film from Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) captures relationships in an ethereal way that gets way under the skin.

September 19, 2004 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall
Shadows on the Wall

A beautiful but static viewing experience that utterly fails to touch the viewer.

September 2, 2004 Full Review
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

The film seems to have internalized Sokurov's inspiration so far that it becomes a blur of hints and vapors.

August 20, 2004 Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego Union-Tribune

Compelling but elusive.

August 8, 2004 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

Audience Reviews for Father and Son

Huh. An interesting product from Sokurov. I'm actually beginning to wonder if I have seen any Russian films other than from Sokurov. Here we have a very interesting relationship between a father and son that seems to border on relationship territory. Throw in a girlfriend and things are really weird..particularly in those long looks.
January 5, 2010
John Ballantine

Super Reviewer

A Russian film that is erotic, enigmatic, and baffling. No plot, dialogue that serves more as poetic musings, and visually dreamy and gorgeous. People never just look at each other but gaze at each other, and the two leads are heavily muscled and mostly topless throughout the film. The backdrops are spectacular: a dreamily lit flat, the incredibly steep rooftop outside where the father and son leap about, the tall, squished-together buildings of their port city, the train and it's intricate levers and buttons...This film is more enjoyable if experienced like a dream: an experience about deep feelings, the deep psychic bond between a father and his son, and the sadness, loneliness, and fear for both when the son begins to detach from this bond to pursue a bond with a woman. The unusually intense connection between the father and the son borders on erotic, and it almost feels like viewers are being made deliberately disturbed by the intensity of certain scenes. Not overtly explicit or sexual. Very arty film: definitely an acquired taste.
July 27, 2009
nkkigrrl28
Christine S
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