Like Father; Like Son

80%
A clever little film with a thoughtful and thought‑provoking screenplay that can be taken both literally as well as metaphorically. It sneaks up on you to get right under your skin without you being completely aware that it is doing so. Its subtle and understated style, performances and direction lull one into a false sense of security. That is, until you begin to realize - about half way through - that this is a serious profound meditation on the Family, as such, and of how hard it can be to get out from under the shadow of ones father. In this case, the father is a "castrating" and a violent one who also wants to control his grandson as his only form of immortality.
 
The basic story revolves around the son's anger for, and fear of, his father. The son has the utmost difficulty escaping from the self‑imposed trap of like father; like son because he actually wants to revere his father but cannot do so because of the latter's fundamental amorality.
 
In this sense, this is also a film about history repeating itself unless one takes the necessary - though painful - action to ensure that it does not. The movie sees this as akin to ideas about infinity, eternity and God‑the‑Father.
 
All the performances here are excellent and the only real problem with this movie is a sense that the writer/director Henry BROMELL lacks a certain self‑confidence with his own material. Although a family assassination business is the stuff of black comedy, clearly humor is not what interests him here but the emotional effect of a domineering father on a gentle man who just wants to live his own life. Short, bittersweet and to the point.