Rent Mother and Son (1997)

Slow-drying Old Master - Mother and Son review by PR

This is a bit like watching paint dry. Hand-ground oil paint on an exquisite Dutch Master, but slow all the same. And I could not help feeling a bit of, well, revulsion watching it, because in spite of the beautiful , almost crafted landscapes etc., it feels voyeuristic. It’s the sort of intimacy in crucial moments that one should not share with others, so it made me feel uncomfortable as a film theme. Still, a class act, I admit.

Close to perfection - Mother and Son review by RJ

The reason I keep watching films and, in particular, seeking out as diverse a range of films as possible, is because of the hope of finding something like this - something that I connect with almost immediately and which resonates so deeply that the experience is absolutely thrilling.

Now - it is clear that 99.9% of people would not choose the adjective 'thrilling' to describe this film. It is slow-moving, mostly consists of very long takes with minimal editing, features only two characters exchanging gnomic dialogue and its theme is the painful transition from life to death. But to me, 'thrilling' is exactly the right word. I love films of this kind (see also Tarkovsky, Bela Tarr etc) that leave gaps for me as a viewer to fill with my own thoughts, ideas and interpretations. As a general rule I am far more interested in the atmosphere of a film than the plot. I understand that most film viewers do not feel this way, hence the previous reviewer describing this as 'like watching paint dry'. For me, all those moments where, superficially, 'nothing is happening', those are the moments in which I am most actively engaged, where my relationship with the film becomes most intense and most rewarding.

It's all a matter of preference, and my mention of the previous reviewer is not in any way meant as a criticism. It was a perfectly fair and honest review, mercifully free of the kind of anger and accusations of pretentiousness that are normally prevalent when people review 'arty' films which they haven't enjoyed. For me, this was about as close to transcendent as film can get - and given the volume of average-to-quite-good films that I sit through, stumbling across something like this is a real joy.