The well-off oil futures trading son of a left-leaning '68 francophone Canadian professor returns to Canada when he learns that his father is dying. The film turns on the clash of values between the son and father as well as the father's questioning of his own worldview as he approaches the untimely end of his life (at 53). The talking heads aspect of the film is nicely muted by the emotional trajectory of the renewed father-son relationship and by the general humor that accompanies the ruminations of the father and his friends. The pace of the film is very relaxed, and while the father and son are clearly central characters, the director manages to maintain a strong ensemble feel. We see enough of the subordinate characters that they become something more than filler. They become embodiments of different strategies for facing the anxiety that accompanies the absurd project of trying to view a life as valuable. Two flaws make this film less than classic though: very leaden writing in the first half of the film, especially where the son is concerned, and a mostly unconvincing sequence toward the beginning of the film where the son uses bribes and street-smarts to procure a private room for his father. It's so poorly written and acted that it comes across almost as shtick. Nonetheless this is an excellent film in the way that it melds the intellectual and emotional trajectories of the story, and for its well directed and acted ensemble style.
Review of The Barbarian Invasions
