{"id":1056,"date":"2021-03-12T17:15:25","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T00:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2021-03-26T10:09:02","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T17:09:02","slug":"the-father-psychological-horror-movie-depicting-the-decaying-psyche-of-an-old-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2021\/the-father-psychological-horror-movie-depicting-the-decaying-psyche-of-an-old-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Father * Psychological Horror Movie, Depicting the Decaying Psyche of an Old Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Benjamin P. comment, \u201cThe Father <\/em>commits itself to depicting dementia through often surreal ripples in the consciousness of its protagonist. The first sign that things are amiss in Anthony\u2019s flat is a quite alarming moment and so, so well-executed.  What happens is a slight, but perceptible alteration to what we\u2019ve been told by Anthony\u2019s daughter about why she\u2019s come to see her father, that becomes a dire sign for what\u2019s to come.\u201d See his full review below.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Father
By Benjamin P., Kids First! Film Critic, Age 15<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Father <\/em>is practically a psychological horror movie, depicting the decaying psyche of an old man, battered by dementia. Yes, The Father <\/em>tends to be pretty grim, but its excellent lead performance from Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins and the film\u2019s structural fluidity set it apart from similarly bleak dramas about the deteriorating mental functions of a senior citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story follows Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) who, at first glance, is an ordinary elderly man in the waning years of his life, pacing around his apartment, awaiting his daughter\u2019s arrival (Olivia Colman) to discuss her new living arrangements. This all serves as a prelude to the mental and emotional fireworks to follow. From there, everything becomes a lot less concrete. Faces of loved ones morph; the layout of Anthony\u2019s apartment shifts; Anne gains a husband; and Anthony is introduced to an in-home care person who bears a striking resemblance to his youngest daughter who may or may not be dead. As dementia wreaks havoc on his brain and mind, Anthony\u2019s only attachment to reality becomes a watch he keeps misplacing, an almost perfect metaphor for Anthony\u2019s spiraling-out-of-control sense of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Father <\/em>commits itself to depicting dementia through often surreal ripples in the consciousness of its protagonist. The first sign that things are amiss in Anthony\u2019s flat is a quite alarming moment and so, so well-executed.  What happens is a slight, but perceptible alteration to what we\u2019ve been told by Anthony\u2019s daughter about why she\u2019s come to see her father, that becomes a dire sign for what\u2019s to come.  A miniscule shift in our perception of events, as filtered through Anthony, balloons into far more concerning and substantial lapses in memory that we witness through Anthony\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony Hopkins\u2019 performance is a consistently surprising lead performance, representative of a film that is just as unpredictable. He doesn’t play it too big, even in the very erratic and sporadic launches between an almost effortless effervescence and the prickly, defensive edge that comes to the surface whenever his self-sufficiency comes into question. Hopkins not only has to channel a frequently changing demeanor, but also a changing frame of mind. He goes from distant\u2014resigned in his cloud of seemingly eternal confusion\u2014to \u201cin-your-face,\u201d saying truly cruel things to his daughter to finding himself reduced to tears, calling out for his mother. Hopkins\u2019 performance stays in line even in its frequent transformations in his mind and mood. Everything feels of a piece with that character and  what we know about him.  And he is just as compelling when he putters down a hallway as when he explodes at his daughter, the person who cares for him most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I give The Father <\/em>3 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 11 to 18 for some language. You can see The Father <\/em>in theaters March 12, 2021, and it will be available on Video On Demand platforms starting March 26th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Benjamin P. comment, \u201cThe Father commits itself to depicting dementia through often surreal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[336,138,410,416,414,417,413,412,415,411],"class_list":["post-1056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jury-updates","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-anthony-hopkins","tag-dementia","tag-florian-zeller","tag-imogen-poots","tag-le-pere","tag-nark-gatiss","tag-olivia-colman","tag-rufus-sewell","tag-silence-of-the-lambs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1058,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}