American Son (2019)

I would give this a zero if I could! Such a waste of time, Washington is so annoying in her performance especially with the repetitive emotional face-making.

Fmovies: I started this movie with high hopes. But all I got to see was this black mother squaring off with just about every white person she came in to contact with (including her son's white father). and I have one word for this movie! PERPETUATING. As a black woman I am am all too familiar with how our black men are treated. But this was way over the top and a waste! The delivery of this movie was so disappointing. I the word play and overblown racism made my stomach hurt! Half way throw the movie and I've seen only 3 ppl! And once of them ---the mother! Has flatlined me!

I started watching this film, paused it in the middle, I said to myself the director MUST be black, a quick check, and what do you know? It is black director!!

This black woman won't accept any help whatsoever by the white men (police and husband) and she is sooo aggressive towards them playing the racism card all the way!

B**** you need to realx and just LISTEN! She is extremely annoying!

American Son fmovies. I totally get the point the director tried to make, but after some time the whole "I'm black, you're white, you don't get it" thing got annoying. This story could've been told with a different dialogue. More educational, and less defensive.

What do we make of a movie that has love it or hate it reviews? Possibly reviewers are judging two different aspects: content and portrayal. American Son raises many important issues that society is struggling with. And the film does show that these issues are not as clear-cut as we might think. It encourages the viewer to see the other person's perspective. If these elements of the film were instead those of an article or a non-fiction book, they would be top-notch.

But this is a film, one adapted from a play. And as a film, it languishes beneath its interesting premise. The most glaring fault lies in the conversation between the parents. Although they were married for many years, they now speak about race issues as if the topic was something new. Is the viewer meant to believe that a biracial couple never explored their views of racial relations? They do not have a credible conversation, but instead make statements for the benefit of the viewer. Rather than believable character dialogue, we get parallel monologues. It is of no surprise, then, that the writer uses amateur contrivances such as that used to bring up the shameful history of segregated water fountains. 'Can I get you anything?' 'Water' 'There's a water fountain down the hall, well actually there are two...' And so on. Such clumsy attempts to invite a soapbox moment is just bad film. Indeed the bulk of the screenplay is replete with such contrived moments. It is the type of faux pas made by Creative Writing students. If it were a fluffy action movie, it could get by with inconsistent, superficial stock characters--the viewer would still enjoy the exciting car chases. But this is meant to be serious drama. It is not the acting that is the problem, but the writing. Sadly, a missed opportunity to prompt a meaningful discussion on the issues it reduces to cliché.

Kerry's depiction of a mother worries for her missing son is highly believable. The fact that she, who is black, is met by a young police officer, who is white, and that they have to grapple with their individual reactions to each other i.e. inexperience and all too common micro aggressions on his part and a different lived experience and suspicion on her part made for uncomfortable but riveting scenes. Also loved the scene between her and the more seasoned cop which, besides displaying an overuse of force by a black officer, also delivered some difficult truths.

I love that there were so many layers to the plot besides the scenes between the mother and the police officers. The film also succeeds in showing the aftermath of a marriage that has completely broken down and just how far people can drift from those first blissful moments in a relationship. Anyone whose ever been through a bitter break-up will surely recognize the truths in these scenes.

The transition from Broadway to television was, in my opinion, extremely well done. The focus was squarely on the four performers which is where it should be and not on a whole lot of Hollywood-type frills. Makes me wish I had seen the original play.