Father and Son
Seagull Films | Release Date: June 18, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Like most of Sokurov's movies, this oblique parable is mysterious, elliptical, irresistible. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Less a story than a situation, the film contends with a difficult transitional period in the lives of its title characters, who face the growing necessity of getting some distance from each other. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Like a dream within a dream. Its images and emotions are vivid, disquieting and also hermetic, and while it may frustrate your desire for clear storytelling and psychological transparency, it has an intensity that surpasses understanding. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
If the setting is claustrophobic, it's also bracingly beautiful, a contradiction that is every bit in keeping with Sokurov's preference for ambiguity over clarity. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
By the time the final shot arrives -- a rooftop panorama in the falling snow -- we don't know much about any of the people we've just encountered. But we have been treated to a feast for the eyes. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Where a lesser movie from a lesser director might sink into its own ponderousness, Sokurov uses the ambiguity of the father and son's relationship to craft a sort of erotic puzzle. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Passes by like a dream. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Borders on the risible but, because Sokurov is Sokurov, this exalted, wacky scenario--which uses Lisbon as an imaginary Russian seaport--is amazingly staged, inventively edited, and rich in audio layering, with camera placements that sometimes verge on the Brakhagian. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Hypnotic film. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyWalter Chaw
For Sokurov, the relationship between a father and a son surpasses physical, even human intimacy -- it’s something approaching the sacred. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Nothing much happens by way of plot in the course of Father and Son, but it offers a fresh and often startling vision of one of the most fundamental relationships between human beings. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The result can be--sometimes is--tedium; but, whether or not the work succeeds as Sokurov intended, it is an adventurous director's probe of cinema possibilities. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Sokurov's use of space, religious symbolism and raw emotion compensate for any sense of exclusion. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
The film should please his (Sokurov's) fans even while proving a frustrating, tedious experience for most art house audiences. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Sokurov's new companion piece (to "Mother and Son"), has the tedium without the trance. Read full review
30
VarietyDeborah Young
Irritatingly devoid of irony, the film has an unintentional but unmistakable homoerotic subtext. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Here was my question for most of this movie: Wha-? I was clueless. Did not understand. Count me among the stupid. Read full review
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