The old man, a doctor, is dying. His wife weeps and waits. But when his son finally arrives, the first few cuts of criticism from his dad send him on a long remembrance of this withered chap in the bed before him, memories full of contradictions, anger and regret.
You’d never think to pair Oscar winner Jim Broadbent and dashing leading man Colin Firth as father and son. But it works in “When Did You Last See Your Father?” a modestly affecting coming-of-age, coming-to-grips-with-death drama about a son who tries to understand his insufferable dad as he sits by his father’s deathbed.
The film, based on a memoir by poet Blake Morrison, is about a son who has spent his life annoyed that his father could never put together “two little words, ‘well’ and ‘done.’ ” The bookish intellectual Blake (Firth, doing a good “wounded and confused”) grew up feeling overshadowed and ill-used by his gregarious, blustery dad (Broadbent, terrific as always), who lived for “little scams,” ways of getting more than his share out of life.
Dad lied, cheated and bullied, ever the center of a dad- centered universe. He never seemed, to his son (Bradley Johnson and Matthew Beard play the younger Blake), to have a moment’s consideration for the ways his words and actions robbed others. Egocentric in the extreme, “Dad” is greedy emotionally, sexually and financially.
The weight of the film is in the unpleasant side of the know-it-all dad. But even Dad has his moments, little undeclared declarations of love from a parent to a child that the child will cling to all his life.
“When Did You Last See Your Father?”
PG-13 for sexual content and brief language. 1 hour, 32 minutes. Directed by Anand Tucker; starring Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson. Opens today the Chez Artiste
