Every day until the Oscars ceremony we’ll be highlighting a different category or movie here on the LAMB! Here’s a link to all the posts written so far:
Today, I’m back with a review of the Best Picture nominee The Father.
Take a look at what I thought of it!
“I feel as if I’m losing my all leaves…” – Anthony
Number of Times Seen – Twice (1 Apr 2021 and 16 Apr 2021)
Link to original review – Here
Brief Synopsis – An elderly man tries to find a way to differentiate between reality and imagination as he struggles with his daughter’s attempts to help him.
My Take on it – Anyone who knows me, knows that I watch A LOT of movies, but rarely do I ever feel the need to watch the same film more than once in a short amount of time.
This is a film that blew me away when I first saw it two weeks ago and have been itching to rewatch ever since because it was so powerful and poignant throughout.
After watching this not long ago, I declared that this was my favorite film of 2020 and this rewatch helps reinforce that idea because it is such an incredibly made film.
Anthony Hopkins is superb in the lead role and this is one of his very best performances because of the way that the story unfolds.
Some of his actions and dialogue in the film reminded me of ones that I had heard before of relatives and other acquaintances about confusing and paranoia about thievery among aides and violent outbursts and it resonated so well with me because of the realistic feel of it all.
I’m so happy that he was able to win the BAFTA last week, eventhough I still have my doubts as to whether he can overcome the emotional factor of Chadwick Boseman at the Oscars.
Even though, I would be very pleasantly surprised if the voters finally chose the most deserving performance and not for other reasons.
The film’s attention to detail is what makes things so fascinating to watch because they film similar scenes where the furniture and fixtures in the room are slightly changed.
The story finds a way to try and visualize what must be going through the mind of someone suffering from Dementia/Alzheimer Disease and that, in turn, gives the viewer so much insight into these terrible afflictions.
This is clearly a film that needs to be rewatched in order to get an even greater grasp on the narrative.
It garnered 6 Oscar nominations this year – Best Picture, Actor (Hopkins), Supporting Actress (Olivia Colman), Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Production Design.
Unfortunately, at this point, it doesn’t seem as if it’s a front runner in any of the categories, but anything is always possible 🙂
Bill Maher (and others) have claimed that this year’s Oscar season is filled with unhappy films, but that is essentially one of the reasons this film is so great, because it shows us realty and how it can be perceived without a fairy tale facade to it all.
I personally think that this is the Best film nominated for Best Picture this year, but I also know that in reality, there is no chance that this can win the big award this year.
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Zeller shared one contribution that Hopkins made to the film: an aria from the Georges Bizet opera The Pearl Fishers: “That was something that came from our conversation. He loves music; so do I. One day he told me, ‘One of my favorite pieces of music is this aria,’ and he told me this story: When he was 30 years old, he was doing a play in the UK. and one night he heard that music for the very first time. He came back to the hotel where there was a piano and he started to try to find the melody. He drove everyone crazy, because it took him something like three days to find the melody. He told me, ‘I have always dreamt of making a movie with this music in it.'” Concluded Zeller, “So I tried to fulfill his dreams as he fulfilled mine.” (From IMDB)
Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)
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