There is a lot to admire on paper about & Sons. Directed by Pablo Trapero and adapted from David Gilbert’s novel by Trapero and Sarah Polley, it brings together an almost ridiculously talented cast — Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Johnny Flynn, George MacKay and Noah Jupe — for a dark family drama that gradually introduces some decidedly unexpected ideas. Unfortunately, for me, the film never quite manages to turn that potential into something genuinely compelling.
Bill Nighy is undoubtedly one of the film’s biggest strengths. As the ageing, alcoholic novelist Andrew Dyer, Nighy gives the character an eccentric, volatile quality while still finding glimpses of vulnerability beneath his bitterness and self-importance. It’s a performance that could easily have become caricature, but Nighy understands exactly how to make Andrew both repellent and fascinating.
The rest of the cast is equally impressive. Imelda Staunton brings some much-needed emotional weight to the material, particularly in her scenes with Nighy, while Noah Jupe gives the film a surprisingly affecting performance as Andy. Johnny Flynn is also excellent as Richard, capturing the complicated resentment of a son who has spent years dealing with the consequences of his father’s failures. George MacKay is somewhat underused, but even he manages to make an impression. The performances are consistently better than the material surrounding them.
The problem is that & Sons has a fascinating premise but doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. Without getting into the film’s major revelation, the story takes a bold turn that opens the door to some genuinely interesting questions about family, identity, genetics, legacy and the extent to which we inherit the characteristics of our parents. There is a potentially terrific film buried somewhere within those ideas.
Unfortunately, the screenplay rarely digs deeply enough.
Instead, the film can feel strangely ponderous, with lengthy conversations and dramatic confrontations that don’t always carry the emotional weight they’re clearly intended to have. The family dysfunction at the centre of the story is interesting, but the film keeps circling its ideas rather than fully exploring them. Several potentially fascinating character threads feel underdeveloped, leaving the whole thing feeling more like an intriguing concept than a satisfying drama.
There are moments when & Sons really comes alive, particularly when Nighy and Staunton are sharing the screen. Those scenes demonstrate just how powerful this film could have been with a sharper screenplay and a more focused emotional core. The cast is doing some serious heavy lifting here, and there were times when I found myself wishing the story was as good as the people performing it.
There’s an ambitious and occasionally fascinating film hiding underneath all the literary family drama, but the execution is too uneven and the ideas too underdeveloped for it to really land. It’s certainly worth acknowledging the quality of the acting — particularly from Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton — but great performances can only carry a film so far.
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