&Sons: Movie Review

Cast: Bill Nighy, Johnny Flynn, George Mackay, Imelda Staunton, Noah Jupe
Director: Pablo Trapero

Some films can hold you close with their stirring performances and strong message.

Others can push you away, preferring to keep you at a distance in their emotionally icy grip.

One such film is Pablo Trapero's &Sons, a film that is blessed with a superb Bill Nighy performance but one which has a central message that never quite hits with the heft that it should.

A frazzled, white-haired Nighy is boozy has-been literary giant Andrew, who's revered for his work, but who spends his later years as a recluse, locked in his study and not interested in engaging with the world, despite being tended to by his son Andy (Jupe).

One day, he summons his other sons, filmmaker Jamie (1917's Mackay) and recovering alcoholic Richard (Flynn) to the family home amid a claim that he's dying. But when the bearded patriarch reveals a long-held family secret, the resultant ripples threaten to destroy years of self-loathing and begrudging respect within the fragile bonds of family.

&Sons is the kind of film that hangs on its central conceit, adapted as it is from David Gilbert's 2013 novel. But despite the stellar performance from Nighy as Andrew swirls in regret and self-loathing, the film never quite achieves an emotional pull that it should have given how world-changing the central revelation is.

Instead, what plays out over nearly 2 hours is nothing short of navel-gazing and hand wringing as the family sons try to best work out what should be done with the bombshell, leading to nothing much happening on screen.

Questions of legacy and regret linger, never quite fully developed by Trapero's movie and despite the work done by Nighy and Flynn, the film never answers questions or provides more of anything than a stultifying vibe throughout.

One scene which does bring fireworks is a meeting between Andrew and his ex-wife, played by Staunton which delivers a punch and a veracity that plenty of long-term couples will recognise.

But ultimately, &Boys feels like a missed opportunity given the promise of all those involved.