My Son

'My Son (2021)' is an experimental film in which a man returns to Scotland after receiving news that his son has gone missing. James McAvoy apparently improvises every scene he's in (which is most of them), forced to fumble his way around a plot which he doesn't know and actors who have the knowledge he is deprived of. Some scenes seem as though they must have been more controlled than others (for instance, when the protagonist decides to beat someone up or does a bit of self-led investigation) and others still must have been filmed more than once (McAvoy has recounted a time in which he decided to climb a tree and was told that this decision was "stupid" by the director). For the most part, McAvoy manages to make his way through the picture not only without cracking up, but also without delivering anything less than a cohesive and believable performance. He is mostly a passenger in his own story, which is somewhat frustrating but also encapsulates the feeling of being caught up in a devastating situation without the ability to truly affect it. He occasionally hesitates to take action, too (presumably for fear of ruining a take). Of course, the film is also peppered with generally awkward and clumsy moments that stem from its unusual approach to its material, but it's relatively easy to forgive these flaws when you keep in mind just how difficult it must be to ad-lib an entire movie. However, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if its experimental nature actually warrants any extra lenience. After all, the filmmakers decided that this was the best way to tell their story and, at times, their unorthodox method definitely impacts that story in a negative way. Having said that, most of the problems with the piece don't actually stem from its most obvious gimmick. Instead, they arise from the fact that the underlying narrative is paced pretty poorly, structured somewhat strangely and is generally rather generic overall. The first half is pretty much a straightforward drama, while the second steers the story into thriller territory. Both segments carry a strong sense of realism, but they seem at odds with one another when it comes to defining the flick's overall intention. The actual plot is barebones and stuffed with coincidences, far less involving than a thriller really ought to be. Furthermore, several plot elements are introduced and then almost immediately dropped, which exactly doesn't make for a particularly satisfying experience. The more you reflect on the piece, the more hollow it seems. Its actual ending is a real dud, too. Still, it's not as if the picture is entirely unsuccessful. As I mentioned earlier, McAvoy turns in really respectable work and pretty much carries the entire film on his shoulders, which is all the more impressive considering he has no idea what's actually going on most of the time. The finale is also really suspenseful, a grounded and engaging game of cat and mouse with solid stakes and a steady execution. The movie has a decently effective emotional underpinning and it features some surprisingly striking cinematography - primarily when it comes to composition and lighting - that somehow doesn't immediately signal that the camera operators don't actually always know where their star is going to end up. Ultimately, though, I can't imagine watching this without knowing its experimental gimmick. That foreknowledge makes the feature much more interesting than it actually is, prompting forgiveness of its flaws and admiration of its execution. It's impressive that the film turned out well at all considering how much could have gone wrong. When you think about it, though, it shouldn't be noteworthy that a movie is "good enough", no matter what gimmick it employs. After all, the filmmakers decided to make things harder on themselves, to use an unorthodox and difficult method presumably in the pursuit of good art. Why would you go through all that extra stress if the result wasn't going to be dramatically improved by it? With a bit more planning, this could've been something really special; as I mentioned before, the underlying story is more of an issue than its actual execution. If the flick wasn't largely improvised, I suspect it would've slipped straight onto 'Amazon Prime' without much fanfare (although, to be fair, it hasn't received much attention as it is). It's good enough for what it is, but it could've been much better. Still, it's worth watching if its USP is intriguing to you. 6/10.

'My Son' is an ok film for a one-time watch. It looks neat, McAvoy is consistently good, there are some tense scenes (although very dark), and the score is memorable.

Yet it's still 5/10 because the story is just too loose. More than half of the things they establish go nowhere while the resolution just turns up from nowhere. So many plot threads just get abandoned constantly taking you out of the film, there's nothing to grasp on to. It's ok to mislead your viewers if you do it in a clever way, provide hints, well, at least something. Here it's just random. Some of the scenes also felt stretched out to meet the required run-time, I have no other explanation, lots of walking, running, sitting, driving...

The ending credits also mention that this is an adaptation of Mon garçon, a French film of the same name from 2017. But how can it be an adaptation if it's directed by the same guy? It's like he just made the same film twice, and the first one isn't much better probably because it's rated even lower.

It's watchable, but only if there is nothing else to see.

McAvoy acting is as ever really good but he's struggling to make any real mark as the script is lacking.

So many interesting details are left hanging.

His background and work is hinted at being involved and then dropped just as quickly. Shame as this really started to make you wonder what was going on? What does he do? Who are these peopke so powerful they can get the highest levels of the Police to shut down investigations? All these are dropped and never mentioned again!? His offices being ransacked in America and hard drives, paperwork etc all confiscated ......why? Never mentioned again.

Absolutely pointless and tragic as it would have made for a much better film if had followed and answered a few questions.

We are left with a simple child abduction ring with no explanation or detail and it goes from one long drawn out scene of walking over terrain to driving in rain to clearly oad out the runtime.

The wife gets hardly any screen time to utilise her acting skills. Her boyfriend acts so odd which isn't explained neither is the fact Ethan (the Son) had no bedroom in the new house?? Why not?

The loose ends didn't work or were ended because didn't know where to go with them in lazy writing or either very badly written red herrings.

McAvoy played it as well as he could. Didn't suddenly become an action hero and fight them all but handled situations realistically and basically just got lucky. Which can happen I guess. The shots of his taking the indirect routes to get to the houses were dragged out and seemingly pointless as his ex got there with no problem.

Massively disappoint film. Especially the ending that just made you feel you'd been cheated.

Lazyily bad writing although good acting, beautiful if dreary landscapes and more questions than answers. In fact was there any answers at all?

Unsure if original was this bad but as same story and director I'm assuming it is......and had even lower feedback scoring.

Avoid.

... there's just not a lot in this film to become emotionally or intellectually intrigued... the two leads do a decent job with what they're given, but overall it's really nothing more than how most people are rating it.

For a movie that dragged in places the ending was a bit disappointing. Like they couldn't take a few minutes to really sus out everything that was really going on, just a quick de-brief in a car ride and no explanation of what happened with his job.