Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

just watch it!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It took me half an hour to get into it....but once you're in... it will not easily leave you..... if you want action , watch something else. If you want something to think about.... this is a special brilliant award winning Belgian-Walloon film! The Dardenne brothers have been awarded many times at the Cannes film festival.

Films by Dardanne brothers tend to lack backstory and context. They have insinuations of what the backstory of the characters is, but it never definitively tells you what is that story. You have to either ignore the lack of context and go along with the story presented objectively, or to use your imagination and fill the gaps yourself. Watching a film by Dardanne brothers is like walking into someone's house for the first time. What I mean by this analogy, is that, when you walk into someone's house for the first time, you may catch a glimpse of what the history of the house is and the people who live/lived there was. You can look at the pictures of people who live there, or at the décor, and build your subjective version of its history, but you'll never know for sure. But just because you don't know the history of the house doesn't mean it doesn't have one. The thing that I appreciate in Dardanne brother's films, or indie films in general, is they intentionally deny you the obvious information to make the experience more subjective, thus more real. Which is something that I always admired in films, and which is what I wish was more prominent in bigger films. Sometimes, the lack of context can be an excuse for lazy screen writing. Sometimes, it can be a beneficial to the story. It depends on how the lack of context co-exists with the objective story we're seeing. Films like "Le fils" only benefit from lacking the context, because its story is very basic, it doesn't rely on sentimentality and schmaltz to sell itself. It's a simple tale, told in a very subjective manner, that grabs your interest by telling a story that, as it goes along, has a reveal that seems like a very pivotal moment for the film, but it never overdoes it, and rather shows you the ramifications of that pivotal moment in a very subtle and mundane approach. Which is why this is such a great film.

This was my second film by the Dardennes brothers (the first being L'Infant/The Child) and I recognised the style immediately: thrown into a world in which explanation and understanding might emerge organically rather than fabricated as a tale with a beginning, middle and end and, a lead character, Oliver, who like Bruno in The Child is constantly in movement. Bruno was always walking; with Oliver it is his everyday tasks that choreograph the film.It is the character of Oliver that amazed and delighted me. Played with a remarkable, studied intensity by Oliver Gourmet I was mesmerised by him even when doing the most banal or mundane things. Oliver seems faceless and unremarkable yet in his past is the sort of event that wrenches people from the comfort of ordinary existence. Oliver's routines and habits become more meaningful as we, the audience, make discoveries about his past and so, the present day man.This film shows that good stories, compelling stories, are to be found in many people's lives if you brush away the surface dust that settles when one is going about the daily business of living, which for many means just getting by. It also shows how anguish, despair, rage and hopelessness can be borne and contained within routine. There is no sentimentality attached to the lot of the characters we meet: consisting of Oliver, his ex-wife and an adolescent fresh from a juvenile detention centre called Francis.In short what is amazing is the authenticity of this film that, with its lingering close-ups, confronts the viewer with reality and one that is probably closer to us than we realise. It is refreshing to find such a film in an age of cinema based on special effects, CGI created images, comic book super heroes and meaningless remakes.

This film, full of nuance and virtually no dialogue, is a good example of a European "art film." If you're looking for blockbuster action and a fast pace, keep walking. You won't find it here. If you're looking for a film that explores forgiveness, redemption and psychological tension, have a seat."The Son" can be painfully slow: dim setting, dark clothing, no dialogue. It leaves you wondering, "What's the point?" And, then, POW, you discover the raison d'être and everything falls into place. It is this very progression from WTF to illumination that makes this film a masterpiece. It's easy to see why "The Son" won multiple film festival awards in 2002, and it is most certainly worth your time.And, by the way, the acting by Olivier Gourmet and Morgan Marinne is sublime. I haven't seen any thing like it in quite awhile - and I watch a lot of films. Also, the cinematography is extraordinary with special attention to lighting. If you're a foreign film buff, grab this DVD.