When Did You Last See Your Father and The Grocer's Son

I had the opportunity to see two films that dealt with father/son relationships. Of the two, When Did You Last See Your Father is the more complex. It is based on a book by Blake Morrison about his relationship with his father Arthur (I now want to read it). The film is directed by Arnand Tucker, who does a very good job. Arthur is played by the wonderful actor Jim Broadbent. Arthur is a doctor who never seems to understand his bookish son Blake. Arthur is a larger than life character and always shows up Blake. You can only imagine his disappointment when Blake decides to become a writer instead of a doctor. The film deals with the time when Arthur is dying and Blake wants to find out answers to some pressing questions as well as make amends. There are also flashbacks to many events in the lives of the two men. The adult Blake is well played by Colin Firth. The young Blake is played by Bradley Johnson and teenage Blake is played by Matthew Beard. The marvelous Juliet Stevenson plays Blake's put upon mother Kim. Gina McKee plays is good as Blake's wife Kathy and the Elaine Cassidy shines as the Morrison's former housekeeper Sandra. This is a terrific little film about a real family and my eyes welled up several times during the screening.

The Grocer's Son is another little gem of a film directed by Eric Guirado. The story is quite simple. Antoine (Nicolas Cazale) is a self centered young man living in the city. He has long escaped the rural life of his parents. But when his father (Daniel Duval) suffers a heart attack his mother (Jeanne Goupil) and brother Francois (Stephen Guerin-Tille) as him to take over his fathers route. His father has a large van that services elderly folks living in the rural countryside and cannot get around to the village to buy food and other supplies. At first he balks but then consents to do this. He takes along his love interest Claire (Clotilde Hesme) although at this point they are just friends. Antoine learns many things from these older folks and by the end of the film you see the change in him.

I highly recommend both films and urge people to see them in order to support independent films in these tough times.