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The Son
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, France, 2002; 103 mins.
The Dogme-95 movement offered a punk
protest against the bloated arena-rock of Hollywood film, denouncing the
falseness of predictable content and slick style and issuing an apocalyptic
call for repentance and reformation. The Dogme films varied in quality, but
their characteristically stripped-down approach and emphasis on fearless
fidelity to life offered a much-needed witness for truth in cinema, inspiring
filmmakers everywhere. That the movement took off just as technology was
putting new "run-and-gun" tools in the hands of filmmakers created a momentum
that is still playing itself out. The Dardenne brothers don't necessarily
follow the "official" Dogme rules, but they continue to produce films of
Dogme-like simplicity and sincerity. The camera-work and action in The Son
is so relentlessly naturalistic that the film feels like not just a
documentary, but one in which the documentarians have made themselves
invisible as the viewer becomes wrapped in a tightly-wound narrative of a man
and boy whose tragedies intertwine. This is raw pain in raw style, an
invigorating journey toward emotional closure. For filmmakers, especially
those who have been participating in the annual conversation that is
Flickerings, one more vitally-important thing to take from The Son is this
highly-provocative thought: this is the kind of film that, theoretically,
anybody with a Mini DV camera could make.
The Son
is part of "Lost Boys" track of the Featured Screenings program at Flickerings at Cornerstone Festival,
July 1-4, 2004.See complete Schedule
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