aka OTETS I SYN
Movie Review by Alice Castle
Starring: Andrey Schetinin, Aleksey Neymyshev, Alexander Razbash, Fedor Lavrov
Director: Alexander Sokurov
FATHER AND SON is not a cinematic version of Turgenev’s masterpiece, but a slow-moving tale of the relationship between a Russian soldier and his teenage son. It’s the second film in a trilogy about human relationships by RUSSIAN ARK director Alexander Sokurov. FATHER AND SON is beautifully shot in warm-brown tones, as if the hour before sunset has been extended indefinitely. What little action there is takes place in the rooftop apartment the man and his son share together high up above the city.
FATHER AND SON are extremely close, the bond between them almost homo-erotic – though Russian men tend to be far more comfortable with physical closeness than men from many other countries. The two talk about the boy’s mother, the son’s girlfriend and the bond that tie father and son together as soldiers. Action is extremely slow and can take some patience to follow as the narrative has neither start nor finish. The film won the Fipresci International Critics Prize at Cannes in 2003.
