And When Did You Last See Your Father?

Aroview: Based on the bestselling Blake Morrison memoir, this teary terminal drama confronts the strained relationship between a father and son when the middle-aged man returns to his hometown to be near his terminally ill father.

Told in simple, two-tier flashback, this is picturesque and nostalgic as one would expect a memoir to be, with production values on an expected par with this acting pedigree, though ironically it is Firth who, despite his everyman appeal, reveals himself as an actor of limited emotional nuance. As such, the drama adds not enough to the ubiquitous and resonant theme of father/son relationships.

NZ International Film Festival 2008