When his father is dying Blake has some very contrasting memories of the relationship he had with his father throughout his childhood and life.
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On first seeing the cast for this movie, I have to admit it looked impressive with Colin Firth as the son and Jim Broadbent playing his father and then throw in three very good British actresses who are very good and you have yourself a very good solid British movie. Matthew Beard who played a teenage Blake was also very good.
I think this is a very thought provoking drama, in which it questions how you treat your parents and how you should make the most of your time with them before it is too late. I thought it was a very important method of showing that to a man, no relationship is as important as the father-son relationship which you have.
In this story Blake (Colin Firth/Matthew Beard) keeps having flashbacks to when he was a child, teenager and years previous to his father (Jim Broadbent) dying. He is trying to look back and remember the good times, but remembers some bad times as well. I liked the way the flashbacks were presented in this movie. It kept going back to different times trying to piece together what was true and what was just in his head.
He suspected that his “Auntie” Beaty was having an affair with his father behind his mother’s back. He kept thinking about this and eventually confronted Beaty about it after his fathers death. She did not really want to talk about it but said his father comforted her and helped he through so much when her marriage was not going well. Blake also suspected that he had another sister, Beaty being her mother. Beaty did not deny nor admit this, but I think the way Blake hugged her admitted that it was indeed his sister.
I thought the ending was so powerful, with the voice over asking when you really last saw your father, was it from something that happened years ago. Was it before he got ill and started to be less like himself everyday, or was it a different time. It then flashbacked to when Blake left to go to University and his father was crying as he really was going to miss him. This then changed to an older Blake hugging his father, then to Blake crying. I found this so powerful as at that moment Blake realised how much his father meant to him and that he was going to miss him so much. So I think the main message in this movie is to really enjoy the time you have with your family and never take it for granted.
The acting from Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent was just fantastic in this movie, I thought they both put in great performances which were totally believeable. I really do like Jim Broadbent and think he is very underrated after all of the different roles he has taken on over the years.
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