Dads On DVD
In recent years father-son films have all but taken over from mother- daughter
movies as a well-worn, mined movie theme. Russian film
The Return (2003) is one of the most striking recent entries, an
atmospheric, slow burn of a drama about an estranged father trying to connect
with his two teenage sons.
One boy believes his father a hero, with the younger angry as all get out at
his absent dad, who tries to compensate for his ‘emotional unavailability’ by
unduly asserting his authority. The film’s wilderness-by-the-sea images might
be beautiful but its conclusion is devastating.
The Return is a gem of recent Russian cinema.
Out soon on DVD is RV. In it
Robin Williams plays another dad desperately trying to stay in touch,
not only with his son, but his teenage daughter and wife as well. This is
perhaps one of his most sophisticated comedic turns playing a screen dad, well
surpassing the cheap sentiment of
Chris Columbus’s Mrs
Doubtfire (1993). For Bob Munro,
Williams goes well inside, silently smouldering at being torn between
the demands of his over-ambitious boss and the (legitimate) demands of his
family.
His dilemma leads him to an ill-fated decision: to kill two birds with one
stone. While fulfilling his promise to take his mob on a big family vacation
(dragging them kicking and screaming on a road trip), he attempts to make the
deadline of an interstate business meeting. The results aren’t pretty and
decidedly hilarious. Co-starring
Cheryl Hines (Curb
Your Enthusiasm) and
Jeff Daniels (Good
Night & Good Luck), this is a darkly comic 'live action cartoon' about
family life.
Jeff Daniels is one
actor who has played his fair share of screen dads over the years, his two most
recent outings being a far cry from the upbeat dad he embodies in RV. In The
Squid & The Whale (on DVD later this year) it’s hard to feel much sympathy for
his character Bernard Berkman, an academic going through a messy divorce in the
1970s. His two boys are suffering under the weight of the marital split with
Walt (Jessie Eisenberg) squarely taking his dad’s side against mother Joan (Laura
Linney), seeing her through his eyes only.
Frank (Owen Kline) on the other hand seems far more easy-going about the
separation, but the opposite is actually true.
Imaginary Heroes is a great DVD release in which
Daniels plays a very depressed dad, Ben, grappling with the death of
his oldest son by alienating his remaining boy Tim (Emile
Hirsch) and wife Sandy (Sigourney
Weaver). It takes a big fat crisis for Ben to pull his head out of his
own pain, making this a very powerful family drama. Twenty-five year old
Dan Harris cut his teeth writing and directing this fantastic indie
film before conquering the almighty box office with his screenplay for comic
book blockbuster X2 (2003), and later Superman Returns (2006).
One of the most enduring father figures on screen has to be Atticus Finch from
To Kill A Mockingbird (1961).
Gregory Peck won an Oscar for the role, playing one of the most quietly
compassionate, righteous screen dads ever, a lawyer bringing up his young
daughter alone while battling the racism of 1930s in a landmark court case. A
great adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pullitzer-Prize winning novel, Atticus Finch
is a dad most would aspire to…
- Megan
Megan Spencer has spent way too much of her life in the dark, all for a good
cause though - watching movies as a professional film critic. For the last six
and a half years she has been serving the ever-increasing hunger for film and
DVD reviews as radio triple j's resident film critic, and a year ago joined the
new line up of long-running SBS-TV film review program, The Movie Show.
Every now and then she pops up into the light to make her own films,
documentaries (her latest is 'Fantastic Brutality', a documentary about an
obsessed wrestling fan, to be released next year). She has also written about
film for many publications including J-Mag, Limelight, Inside Film Magazine and
the Age Green Guide.
And the impossible question to ask a film critic: what's her favourite film?
"Blue Velvet would be at the top of the list, so would Fight Club... But then
again American In Paris makes me cry every time."
Megan has also been part of the Foxtel's Project Greenlight Australia as an
on-air panelist and judge.
