Mother and Son (1997)

Mother and Son (1997)

An inimitable tone poem to the love between parent and child

7.8

Movie

Germany, Russia
Russian
Drama
1997
ALEKSANDR SOKUROV
Aleksei Ananishnov
73 min

What it's about

A man goes for a walk through the countryside with his dying mother.

The take

Alexander Sokurov might best be known for Russian Ark, his grand single-take jaw-dropper featuring over 2,000 actors. In a way, Mother and Son is the exact opposite, featuring only two, and instead of traversing hundreds of years of history, it wades through a singular moment in time. This intimate and hypnotic piece of slow cinema trails a son taking care of his dying mother out in the beautiful countryside.

Sokurov’s frames mirror impressionist paintings, while the mix of slow movement and sparse dialogue creates heartbreaking poetry. So many films casually employ death like a light-switch - on and off and out of mind. Sokurov instead confronts it as a corrosive force that bends time to its will and pulls both the dying and the grieving into its grasp.

Comments

Add a comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

A star-studded and riveting legal drama with a blockbuster feel.

8.1

Forgotten Love (2023)

The stunning third take of the classic Polish pre-war melodrama

7.7

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

Art of Love (2024)

An underwhelming heist romance with all of the style but none of the thrills

5.7

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

The Monk and the Gun (2024)

Pawo Choyning Dorji depicts Bhutan through this fascinatingly gentle comedy during its shift to democracy

8.1

Thank You, I’m Sorry (2023)

Estranged sisters reconnect amidst grief and bizarre comedy in this understated Swedish drama

6.5

Last Call for Istanbul (2023)

A seemingly generic Turkish romance travel film, until it gets into its second half

7.0

A Silent Voice (2016)

A coming-of-age movie that circles around friendship and the atonement of a boy

8.7

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.