Mother and Son
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Year Released: 1997
Rating: 2.0
Very much a Postcard Movie: you know, when you get to look at a pretty picture of some place you've never been to and admire it but really just want to flip it over to read the personalized note on the back (or maybe even examine an exotic stamp) ... only to find it's completely blank ("Make up a own message for yourself!" it says in its own conceptual way). Avant-garde fan boys and girls will eat this stagnant formalism up, while I can only admire the compositions and filters on a purely technical level - in terms of deeper meanings, you're (naturally) supposed to bring your own luggage to the check-in booth. Dying Mom is little more than a prop Son can lean on trees or place in bed before he goes outside to look at nature and Reflect on her passing. Luckily, Sokurov doesn't try to pull a Béla Tarr and cuts out after an hour. Which is long enough, if you think about it....
