Perfect Son (Widescreen)

This is a film about two brothers who haven't seen each other in years and unite after the death of their father. One is the golden child and the other is the abandoned and all but disowned child. Harkening not just slightly to the Biblical story of the prodigal son, The Perfect Son doesn't let us see the childhood events that brought about this uneven treatment by the father, nor the childhood relationship of the brothers. We are only able to hear about it in two very slight references that aren't really enough.

The Perfect Son feels more like a 1970's disease of the week film that the television networks were dashing together right and left at the time.

The disease in this film is AIDS. And to give the devil his due, this treatment of AIDS is far more watchable and tolerable than many other films of late have given it. It doesn't really focus on the AIDS, but attempts to focus on the painful relationship between two opposites - the brothers.

So, in short, The Perfect Son is far from perfect, but it is very watchable. Yes, it's a disease of the week film, but it's done so much better than many bigger films of recent.

Ryan (Colm Feore) is a successful lawyer who has taken care of his father whilst younger brother Theo (David Cubitt) has excluded himself from his family and travelled down the road of drug abuse and self loathing. It is after the death of the Father where we see Ryan and Theo reunited.

Initially distant and hesitant of acknowledging emotional bonds between them, Theo soon discovers Ryan's secret homosexuality and AIDS infection. It is from this point we see the 2 characters slowly come together, rebond and deal with the emotions between each other and the outside world.

So we enter on a journey of both characters' self discovery and coming to terms with their weaknesses as well as strengths, and it is up to the audience to decide who is the 'perfect son', if indeed a perfect son exists at all.

Both leads bring so much raw emotion to their roles to create believable three dimensional characters.

This is not a movie where homosexuality or death is at the forefront of the story - instead they are used as vehicles to reunite the 2 brothers together and spark their emotional journey to reconnect.

The DVD itself is well presented considering The Perfect Son is a small budget Canadian Film. The transfer is the original widescreen print presented in very high quality where the wonderful use of light in the film can be seen in every detail. A 'behind the scenes' featurette featuring interviews with the main actors and production crew provides additional insights into the film. A trailer, as well as trailers for other WolfeVideo DVD releases, are included also. However the one extra that stands out is the audio commentary by writer/director Leonard Farlinger and actor Colm Feore. Leonard is always engaging to listen to - he delves deeply into the story, filmmaking process and 'behind the scenes' and you really feel as though you have learned something from him, even though the discussion can get quite technical at times. After a slow start, Colm becomes just as engaging and it's interesting to hear an actors point of view of the movie making process.

The Perfect Son touches on many taboo topics in society such as sexuality, death, euthanasia and abortion, however the main purpose of this movie is seeing 2 men dealing with their emotions is a way that is so very rarely seen in cinema.

Highly recommended.

This film seems to borrow parts from other movies. There is the "Memento" style beginning and end (which I though was masterfully done), The "Rites of Passage" brother thing, and a scene or two borrowed from "Philadelphia".

Well acted, technically sound, and entertaining. This film could be a good addition to one's home video collection but there isn't much in it that is original.