The Father (2020)

Unforgettable and unforgiving

Director: Florian Zeller
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams
Awesome Movie Index (AMI): 9.1 / 10

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One thing is certain, this movie will play with your mind and your emotions, which is rather appropriate since it features a man struggling with dementia.  

Anthony Hopkins stars as an octogenarian whose cognitive world slowly crumbles around him while his daughter (Olivia Colman) tries to pick up the pieces. 

OK, we know what you’re thinking: here we go again, another movie about a degenerative disease where the main actor knocks it out of the park with a fantastic performance, and we all feel sad and anguished as the film progresses until he inevitably withers away only to then clinch the Oscar for Best Actor next weekend, right? Not quite.

For starters, yes, Hopkins is so good that he’ll not only make you believe it’s all too real, but more importantly, he’ll make you forget he was also a homicidal cannibal or Zorro in his past movie lives. 

But the film’s true strength is French director Florian Zeller’s cruel and clever method of staging the events, how he provides a terrifying glimpse into the disease and its mind-thwarting capacity from within, from the patient’s perspective. 

How? 

You’ll have to see for yourself, but the result is brutal and harrowing — and thankfully, all CGI-free. 

That being said, the movie is very static, mainly because it’s an adaptation of a play written by the French director— though honestly, given the subject matter, it’s not like we expected car chases. 

Also, like many other nominated films at the Oscars this year, this is not a pleasant or entertaining film that provides the proverbial much-needed “escape”.

In fact, it’s so frighteningly real that you could say this is the kind of movie you may wish to forget after you’ve seen it. 

But you won’t. 

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Special thanks to Michel for recommending this film. Keep them coming!