User reviews

James McAvoy was fantastic as always but I was left asking a few questions in the end. Aspects of the plot were only hinted at but not explored properly.

For a movie that dragged in places the ending was a bit disappointing. Like they couldn't take a few minutes to really sus out everything that was really going on, just a quick de-brief in a car ride and no explanation of what happened with his job.

'My Son (2021)' is an experimental film in which a man returns to Scotland after receiving news that his son has gone missing. James McAvoy apparently improvises every scene he's in (which is most of them), forced to fumble his way around a plot which he doesn't know and actors who have the knowledge he is deprived of. Some scenes seem as though they must have been more controlled than others (for instance, when the protagonist decides to beat someone up or does a bit of self-led investigation) and others still must have been filmed more than once (McAvoy has recounted a time in which he decided to climb a tree and was told that this decision was "stupid" by the director). For the most part, McAvoy manages to make his way through the picture not only without cracking up, but also without delivering anything less than a cohesive and believable performance. He is mostly a passenger in his own story, which is somewhat frustrating but also encapsulates the feeling of being caught up in a devastating situation without the ability to truly affect it. He occasionally hesitates to take action, too (presumably for fear of ruining a take). Of course, the film is also peppered with generally awkward and clumsy moments that stem from its unusual approach to its material, but it's relatively easy to forgive these flaws when you keep in mind just how difficult it must be to ad-lib an entire movie. However, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if its experimental nature actually warrants any extra lenience. After all, the filmmakers decided that this was the best way to tell their story and, at times, their unorthodox method definitely impacts that story in a negative way. Having said that, most of the problems with the piece don't actually stem from its most obvious gimmick. Instead, they arise from the fact that the underlying narrative is paced pretty poorly, structured somewhat strangely and is generally rather generic overall. The first half is pretty much a straightforward drama, while the second steers the story into thriller territory. Both segments carry a strong sense of realism, but they seem at odds with one another when it comes to defining the flick's overall intention. The actual plot is barebones and stuffed with coincidences, far less involving than a thriller really ought to be. Furthermore, several plot elements are introduced and then almost immediately dropped, which exactly doesn't make for a particularly satisfying experience. The more you reflect on the piece, the more hollow it seems. Its actual ending is a real dud, too. Still, it's not as if the picture is entirely unsuccessful. As I mentioned earlier, McAvoy turns in really respectable work and pretty much carries the entire film on his shoulders, which is all the more impressive considering he has no idea what's actually going on most of the time. The finale is also really suspenseful, a grounded and engaging game of cat and mouse with solid stakes and a steady execution. The movie has a decently effective emotional underpinning and it features some surprisingly striking cinematography - primarily when it comes to composition and lighting - that somehow doesn't immediately signal that the camera operators don't actually always know where their star is going to end up. Ultimately, though, I can't imagine watching this without knowing its experimental gimmick. That foreknowledge makes the feature much more interesting than it actually is, prompting forgiveness of its flaws and admiration of its execution. It's impressive that the film turned out well at all considering how much could have gone wrong. When you think about it, though, it shouldn't be noteworthy that a movie is "good enough", no matter what gimmick it employs. After all, the filmmakers decided to make things harder on themselves, to use an unorthodox and difficult method presumably in the pursuit of good art. Why would you go through all that extra stress if the result wasn't going to be dramatically improved by it? With a bit more planning, this could've been something really special; as I mentioned before, the underlying story is more of an issue than its actual execution. If the flick wasn't largely improvised, I suspect it would've slipped straight onto 'Amazon Prime' without much fanfare (although, to be fair, it hasn't received much attention as it is). It's good enough for what it is, but it could've been much better. Still, it's worth watching if its USP is intriguing to you. 6/10.

My Son (2021) is a mystery thriller about a divorced father trying to deal with the situation of his son going missing. I love James McAvoy and Claire Foy, so seeing them starring in a movie together made me curious to check this out, and also apparently the fact that McAvoy wasn't given a script or dialogues and instead improvised throughout the movie.

Now, it's not a groundbreaking achievement in filmmaking or anything like that, or at least I didn't feel it. The way the movie is penned and directed, McAvoy's improvisation doesn't really stand out even if the performances from both the main actors were strong, especially McAvoy's but that's hardly a surprise since he's good-great in pretty much everything I've seen him in.

It's slowly paced but it's also short so it doesn't get boring and there are sections that are thrilling or tense as you do start to care for the main character but they are too few and far between. Since you're going through the story from the father's POV, when things get interesting, you're strapped up for the ride but the movie hardly touches on the plot points it sets up as the story unfolds and just sorta wraps it up, which leaves you wanting for more.

It sure does look pretty, fully utilizing the Scotland Highlands in its cinematography (I hope I can visit it one day). The soundtrack was also pleasing and fitted the mood/tone.

Overall, My Son is a small mystery thriller that didn't give me enough for me to say it's particularly good but at the same time, it had enough material in it for it to be a passable watch. Give it a shot if you're curious or are a fan of James McAvoy. And if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 6/10.

... there's just not a lot in this film to become emotionally or intellectually intrigued... the two leads do a decent job with what they're given, but overall it's really nothing more than how most people are rating it.

Really enjoyed the way this film was shot, the scenery, the lighting and general eerie atmosphere was well executed. James McAvoy proves again why he is a force to be reckoned with. Without James in this film, it might not have been half as enjoyable.

It is a bit slow at times and didn't dig deep into the bigger picture of the storyline but I enjoyed it. It's definitely worth a watch in my opinion.

I feel if they dug into the story a bit more and explained the sinister situation at hand it could have been a 8/9 out of 10.

McAvoy acting is as ever really good but he's struggling to make any real mark as the script is lacking.

So many interesting details are left hanging.

His background and work is hinted at being involved and then dropped just as quickly. Shame as this really started to make you wonder what was going on? What does he do? Who are these peopke so powerful they can get the highest levels of the Police to shut down investigations? All these are dropped and never mentioned again!? His offices being ransacked in America and hard drives, paperwork etc all confiscated ......why? Never mentioned again.

Absolutely pointless and tragic as it would have made for a much better film if had followed and answered a few questions.

We are left with a simple child abduction ring with no explanation or detail and it goes from one long drawn out scene of walking over terrain to driving in rain to clearly oad out the runtime.

The wife gets hardly any screen time to utilise her acting skills. Her boyfriend acts so odd which isn't explained neither is the fact Ethan (the Son) had no bedroom in the new house?? Why not?

The loose ends didn't work or were ended because didn't know where to go with them in lazy writing or either very badly written red herrings.

McAvoy played it as well as he could. Didn't suddenly become an action hero and fight them all but handled situations realistically and basically just got lucky. Which can happen I guess. The shots of his taking the indirect routes to get to the houses were dragged out and seemingly pointless as his ex got there with no problem.

Massively disappoint film. Especially the ending that just made you feel you'd been cheated.

Lazyily bad writing although good acting, beautiful if dreary landscapes and more questions than answers. In fact was there any answers at all?

Unsure if original was this bad but as same story and director I'm assuming it is......and had even lower feedback scoring.

Avoid.

English remake of the 2017 French film of the same name starring French actors Guillaume Canet and Mélanie Laurent.

It was a mistake to market the entire movie as "James McAvoy acted without a script".

McAvoy is already such a great actor, everyone forgets to mention the quality of the movie while praising him.

The movie is a good drama, a good thriller and a good remake.

I often think of the quote, "It never comes back", from 'The Disaster Artist'. 'My Son' is a little guilty of having some of those moments. Apparently James McAvoy, who is incredible in this film, was never given a script so as to get natural reactions to events that crop up along the way. Fun idea. The problem is that it feels like they put a lot of random and irrelevant plot points into the movie to get reactions out of him. They never come back. It's quite odd. In spite of this the movie is still pretty darn good.

We get straight to the chase in this one. There is no mucking around. From there a mystery presents itself. It's a really well set up little film. There is tension between characters, there is conflict with the police and there is a mystery that needs to be solved.

The middle of the film is very strong but it is the final sequence where it is at its strongest. It's extremely tense and the movie has a feel of not every character being necessarily safe. It's edge of your seat stuff and it's great to watch.

The film feels like it just needs a little polishing. There are too many questions left unanswered and the film wraps up unnecessarily quickly. The journey is unquestionably a tense and entertaining one though. I would recommend 'My Son'. 8/10.

My Son starts rather slow but towards the second half of the movie it gets much more suspenseful. The story is intriguing, there's definitely mystery that needs to be solved and that keeps the audience interested. James McAvoy is a pleasant actor to watch, never really fails in what he's doing and in My Son he just did a very good job. The cast was well chosen for this movie. Every actor brought something to the story. These kind of movies, mysteries, are just entertaining for a lot of people, and I'm one of them that appreciates this genre more than other genres.

This is a thriller set in beautiful landscapes. The tension is not very high, but it is adequately engaging.

This is a masterpiece, it's as simple as that. This move touches on something that NO parent would ever want to go through and it does it brilliantly.

On top of that, I don't think people realIse that James McAvoy had no dialogue to work with. Everything he does in this movie is his own reaction to the story he doesn't know. It's mesmerising.

This is a classic for me and I'm looking forward to watching it again. Genius.

This is a good movie and what makes it really good is the last half hour. And the actors. They could have done oh so much more with the ending, though. I think maybe they thought about doing just that but in the end just cut it away.

No matter how brilliant the actor and actress were, nothing could save the mess thats called the plot. Started off 8/10, but then things started to speed up quickly. Seems the director was given enough money to increase the duration of the film.

My Son is an improvised child abduction thriller. It is a remake of a French movie called Mon Garçon.

Edmond Murray (James McAvoy) frequently works abroad a consultant for an oil company. His ex wife Joan (Claire Foy) calls him back to Scotland when Ethan his 7 year old son is snatched from a campsite.

Edmond suspects Joan's new boyfriend to be behind the abduction as he behave strangely. In fact Edmond beats him up and the police arrest him.

The man in charge of the investigation Inspector Roy (Gary Lewis) cannot find a substantial lead and is soon taken off the case. Edmond though does find a trail through some mobile phone footage. One that leads to a child abduction ring.

The movie has the scuzzy feel of 8MM with elements of Taken as Edmond is out to get revenge with whatever he can lay his hands on. A blowtorch in one scene.

The main selling point of My Son is that McAvoy had to improvise his script. He was only given a basic outline of his character and the plot. Although I presume he took a sneaky peak at the French version.

It does give the movie an underwritten feeling. Like the story is not fully developed and it shows in the final product.

A lazy film which promises much but delivers very little.

Most of the film is excruciatingly slow. I'm guessing the cast had a nice holiday in Scotland at least. It's one of those films that when you're over half way through watching, you reluctantly realise that you'll never get your time back so you grind it out until the end. In this instance I now wish I'd quit much earlier; the scene where JM spends eons scrutinising mobile phone footage looking for clues. Or at the part when he's letting the air out of the villians tyre - the longest air hissing out of a tyre scene in the history of filmaking. Overall possibly the slowest slow burner ever.

Harsh review I know, but fair..

A thriller simply cannot run on the basis of a gimmick (of its protagonist mouthing totally improvised dialogue) - it needs a plot and neatly packaged twists & turns to keep viewers invested. My Son starts off with interesting what-ifs and frame choices. But writer-director Christian Carion struggles to develop well-rounded characters or convey a coherent story. The tension is practically non-existent after the opening scene. The thrills are absent. The biggest disappointment, however, is that Carion settles for an extremely weak finale - one that undoes all of its initial intrigue. Plot points are barely touched upon and conveniently brushed aside, while the antagonists are poorly etched. McAvoy tries. He definitely tries. But the film can't stand on its own two feet because of the bland, powerless writing.

I've seen the original film, the French version which at first seems slow but get pretty good towards the end. . This one pretty much as same.. James McAvoy is such a great actor, I love to watch everything he does.. beautiful scenary & great cast performances..

While this film had a lot of promise at first, I was concerned by the poor wrapping up of elements of the plot, and the near darkness and gloom of both exteriors and interiors. Having lived in Scotland, I know how dreary it can be in the spring, fall, and winter months due to the weaker sunlight, shorter days and the clouds gathering for rain every day, but it did not help when the only light for the interiors came form the windows leaving the characters in shadow or silhouette. I put this down to perhaps a very low budge, and assumed they couldn't afford to light the set. The other main problem was the lack of wrapping up of promising plot leads. I had to go to Wikipedia to find out why and what were the reasons for some of the twists. Even then, was he an intenational mercenary, or spy. Did the divorced parents get back together? Did the new boy friend get the shove? What was his job for the oil companies? Why was his office ransacked? I know Americans are criticisd for wanting happy endings but even without a happy ending, we need a plot to go somewhere without dangling red herrings.

My Review - My Son streaming on Prime

My Rating 6.5

This movie really could have been an 8 for me if it didn't leave so much of the story scenario unexplained ?

Filming was halted as many movies were during Covid so it may explain some editing issues that I had with the film because I had none at all with the acting performances of James McAvoy cast as Edmund Murray an absentee father working off shore who returns to the devastating news that his 7 year old son Ethan has disappeared from a lakeside campsite .

He is reunited with his ex wife Ethan's distraught mother Joan played by Claire Foy giving her usual great performance looking so different than the last role we saw her in playing The Duchess of Argyll.

Edmund Murray is an angry guilt ridden man as he reflects on the lack of participation in his sons life . He realises and is told in no uncertain terms by Claire what a bad father he has been to his son which is only really due to absences caused by working overseas for an International Oil Company or is there more to EdmundS employment than meets the eye?

No one does guilt and anger better than James McAvoy and circumstances occur that mean Edmund will have to take over the investigation into Ethans disappearance himself.

I don't often say a movie is too short but "My Son " at just over 90 minutes Iong in my opinion could have been better expanded into a short mini series.

This is an English adaptation of the French movie Mon garçon written and Directed by Christian Carion who's 2005 movie Joyeux NoëI about the Christmas truce during World War 1 is a favourite of mine.

I'm going to try and find the French film Mon garçon that this one is based on to see if something was lost in translation.

My Son has the same Director and writer Christian Carion but instead of being set in the snow capped forests of eastern France the story takes place in the beautiful Scottish Highlands known as Lochaber.

My only problem with this movie was a plot twist involving Edmond's employment with the oil company not explained adequately to my satisfaction. Also when Joan becomes involved in the investigation at Edmond's request and makes an alarming discovery that is never referred to again except in one micro scene as she leaves the hospital.

I even rewound the movie to make sure I hadn't missed any vital scenes and came to the conclusion that the unexplained plot twist could have been left out altogether and Inspector Roy played well by Gary Lewis should have continued on with the investigation.

I can't say more here less I spoil the story I can recommend My Son for the performances and suspense with reservations.