The Father (2020)

I had the wonderful opportunity to see The Father at CIFF this year. I went in excited to see what Sir Anthony Hopkins would do with a study on dementia. As I consider Sir Anthony as arguable the best actor in film these days I had pretty high expectations. And I was not at all let down. When his character, also named Anthony, become confused or curmudgeonly you recognize some of his other great performances. But in fact I was most impressed at how warm and charming of a character Sir Anthony could also play. He was just simply spell binding when his character was his "old self". With all this being said perhaps the most remarkable performance of the film comes from Olivia Colman who plays Anthony's daughter, Anne. The patience, frustration, hurt and unwavering love depicted while Anne tries to find the best way to care for her father is truly remarkable. I'm sure there will be Oscar buzz for both of these performances and for the adapted screen play of Director Florian Zeller.

Now a little SPOILER to help people better enjoy this film. The Father in a way is shot like a mystery. Time lines are repeated , characters change in the story all while the audience sits confused. You do by the end understand that this is done to represent the progression of Anthony's disease. And you as an audience get to experience the strangeness of a mind that is being let down by itself. This is presented as a kind of plot twist. But I think the film will be more enjoyable for most if you understand in advance what is going on.

Fmovies: Anthony Hopkins portrays in a fantastic way how life erodes, piece by piece, when dementia takes over an old man's life. Olivia Coleman, who plays his daughter, shows with greatness how painful and sad it is to see her loved father slowly disappear into the fog. The film really grabbed me and tore my heart apart.

Give Anthony Hopkins the Oscar on April 26. He gives you the best performance of the decade. An old man with dementia loses his ties to reality. His mind deteriorates, and reality stops making any sense. This movie will haunt you, especially if you have a relative with dementia. Such a heartbreaking movie. ABSOLUTELY the best movie of the year and the best performance of the year by Hopkins.

The Father fmovies. There is not much to say about the movie. We've watched an acting lesson from the master, Anthony Hopkins for 90 minutes and I was just speechless at the end with the contribution of the soundtrack from another master Ludovico Einaudi.

It was such a realistic drama reminding me my beloved grandfather that I've lost few years ago. It should definitely win the Oscar.

After watching this movie, I had to see the reviews to see if others were as rocked as I was by it. They were. Breath-takingly good movie. I would have rated the movie a 7-8 due to great writing, acting, cast and story, but the last five minutes shot it to a 100 out of 10 due to Hopkins. Gut wrenching and wonderful.

It's just so sad and also a bit terrifying. My wife works as a nurse in an alzheimer's ward, and she said this is the most realistic depiction of the disease she has ever seen. She also said in her opinion it should be required viewing for anyone that works with alzheimer's or dementia patients. What a movie!