Review of Footnote (2011) by K L — 11 May 2012

This is the kind of the comedy that American audience would walk out and wonder, how is this a comedy? Except a few very very dry gags, there are almost no jokes in the film. Only after a while, when you're no longer tangled by its tension that you would realize that the situation posed by the movie, the whole thing, is a joke.

The movie depicts a father-son relationship unlike any other. It took a while to figure out that they are father and son, and even then, they hardly ever talk, and when they do, they are cold and hostile.

The son makes a touching speech about not taking his father's award and therefore his life honor, but is grungy when his father gives interviews that have nothing but disdain for him and the others.

FOOTNOTE is a very quiet film, and in its moments of quietness, I often wonder if I'm missing something. There is no central theme that I can follow with confidence. Maybe I did miss something, for I can't say I enjoyed the film.

Or maybe it's just that I cannot relate to this kind of father-son relationship.