Review of My Son (2021) by Bertobellamy — 08 Mar 2022

Although the fact that James McAvoy acted with no screenplay — only reacting to the other actors' lines — is kind of interesting, given his performance here, 'My Son' has little value in almost every way.

Director and co-writer Christian Carion never manages to create a riveting moment. Imagine a bland version of 'You Were Never Really Here' and you'll get an idea. After a promising start with a cool long take, 'My Son' takes the same path as any other missing-child film. There's an attempt to dig deeper into the catastrophic emotional consequences of a boy's disappearance, but a cheap thriller vibe gets in the way.

Also, the screenplay is very messy. Some threads that seemed very important are never resolved, and the ending couldn't be more generic. And Claire Foy practically does nothing here, which is strange.

Yes, McAvoy doesn't disappoint, but another way for approaching a story we have seen a million times could've been more attractive.