[WGH]

'The Father' is Anthony's journey, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, as he slowly loses touch with reality as his dementia progresses. Anthony is smart and independent, quite capable of living alone in his luxurious London flat. He does not agree with his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) that he needs any assistance, let alone strangers in his apartment. But all is not what it seems. Conversations, locations, and relationships change throughout the film, blink and you will miss it. 'The Father' is a magic trick performed in plain sight.



The film portrays the events through both Anthony's and Anne's point of view, sometimes we, as the audience, are just as confused as Anthony. What is real, what is memory, the film is an unreliable narrator. The editing is tight, 'The Father' is a brisk 1 hour 37 minutes and doesn't wallow in melancholy, this is not a tear jerker but it will stay with you forever, especially if you have aging parents. 

The acting is excellent, Hopkins deserves another Best Actor Oscar.

98% on RT
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_father_2021

 

[Rob Babcock]

I see he won the Oscar!  With Covid shutting the theaters down I haven't seen a new film since Feb 2020!  But I hope to see this one eventually.

[Mike B.]

I would like to see all the candidates for this years best film. The problem is most went to one streaming service or another. I hope this is not a new trend.

[Rob Babcock]

I imagine it's just Covid.  Once theaters can reopen presumably things will revert to normal.  I didn't see a single Oscar film nor anything new since before the plague.

[Letitroll98]

The cost of watching a streaming service new release is steep, $20 for the two I'd like to see and have access to.  That's fine for a family of four or five, but much higher than the theater for a single retiree. 

This looks like a fine movie with excellent performances, but being intimately exposed to Alzheimer's and dementia I really don't want to see it anymore.  The heartbreak is way too much to bear.  I'm sure the movie does a great service to educate others not as familiar.