Director Christian Carion and his frequent star Guillaume Canet show off their very particular sets of skills in “My Son” (“Mon garçon”), a polished, if mechanical, vigilante thriller that attempts to combine the psychological deep dive of Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” with the adrenaline shot of Pierre Morel’s “Taken.” Falling well short of those superior films, this limited-release offering — which did modest business when it opened in France back in 2017 — squanders a compelling performance by top-billed Canet, playing an absentee father searching for his kidnapped son in the mountains of southeast France. Themes of parental guilt and the effects of broken families on children are hinted at early but discarded in favor of genre pleasures, which Carion provides to increasingly formulaic effect.
“My Son” is Carion’s fifth feature and his first in a contemporary setting since his 2001 César-nominated debut, “The Girl from Paris.” Since then, he’s tackled World War I,...
“My Son” is Carion’s fifth feature and his first in a contemporary setting since his 2001 César-nominated debut, “The Girl from Paris.” Since then, he’s tackled World War I,...
- 5/9/2019
- by Mark Keizer
- Variety Film + TV
The French thriller “My Son” is about a missing boy, an absentee dad, and a welcome lack of affectation in selling its unnerving premise. Less a vigilante explosion à la “Taken” than a methodical suspense flick built around Guillaume Canet’s character’s turbulent reaction to an in-the-moment tragedy, it might roil those who prefer their cinematic hunts to be speckled with Neeson-esque catchphrases and choreographed violence.
This one’s moodier and messier. But in its modest, stripped-down way, it’s a worthy cousin to the genre stalwarts, anchored in the unvarnished power of Canet’s performance, and the no-nonsense approach to Christian Carion’s direction.
We meet Julien (Canet) as he’s driving into the snow-capped mountains of eastern France, having just received word from his distraught ex-wife Marie (Mélanie Laurent) that their 7-year-old son Mathys (Lino Papa) has gone missing from a nature camp in the dead of night.
This one’s moodier and messier. But in its modest, stripped-down way, it’s a worthy cousin to the genre stalwarts, anchored in the unvarnished power of Canet’s performance, and the no-nonsense approach to Christian Carion’s direction.
We meet Julien (Canet) as he’s driving into the snow-capped mountains of eastern France, having just received word from his distraught ex-wife Marie (Mélanie Laurent) that their 7-year-old son Mathys (Lino Papa) has gone missing from a nature camp in the dead of night.
- 5/8/2019
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
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