When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007) Film Review

Plot Summary - UK film based on a true story, about the last few weeks between a middle-aged man and his dying father, much of the film told in flashback. Blake (Colin Firth), a poet, is quite resentful, it feels like he never really connected with his father (Jim Broadbent), a doctor - we see Blake in flashback as a little boy and as a teenage young man in the early 1960s, as he recalls memories of incidents with family and father. Dad is a jokester who seems to have a thing about calling his son "fathead", he often does stuff that embarrasses Blake, who doesn't seem to cut the dad that much of a break either. We see incidents involving a possible affair between the father and an "auntie", we see the teenage son and his crush on the family maid, we see dad and son go off on a rain-soaked camping trip. And we see current incidents between Blake and his now terminally ill father, as they face their final moments together.

Review - This is quite a good film, sensitively portrayed characters and, I must say, gorgeous scenery in the English countryside (SO green! I live in L.A., not so green) and a very pretty English town (yes, I'm an Anglophile). Colin Firth (spark! - - will always be my fave "Mr. Darcy", sigh!) is one of my favorite actors, he gives another well done performance in this - Jim Broadbent is great as the father on his deathbed. Some unusual photography in this, several shots done into mirrors where you see the both the person and their reflection on screen. The action changes back and forth throughout the film between the current day and incidents that took place in the past. An excellent, touching film. Rating - 9/10 stars