Movies put spotlight on all kinds of dads
YOUR GUIDE TO THE BEST FLICKS TO WATCH ABOUT FATHERHOOD
With Father’s Day almost upon us, LEIGH PAATSCH has hit the streaming platforms in search of movies that embody the sometimes rewarding, always relentless experience that is fatherhood. Whether leading from the front or learning on the fly, there is a dad for any demographic in this collection …
AN IMPOSING DAD
THE GODFATHER BINGE, FOXTEL
Of every movie patriarch to have graced the big screen, this is the one father above all others that no one would want to get on the wrong side of. Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone manages his organisedcrime family’s affairs as if in a suspended state of menacing calm, where the slightest turn of a hand or the quietest sigh could mean imminent death for someone outside his inner circle. All three instalments of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather saga – where Don Vito’s conflicted son Michael (Al Pacino) will rise through the ranks are all housed on Binge and Foxtel.
A DEVOTED DAD
BEAUTIFUL BOY AMAZON or RENT
The true story of Nic Sheff (Timothee Chalamet), a promising student whose tentative flirtation with light drugs triggers a heavy addiction to ice. Perpetually floating between recovery and relapse, the lifelines cast out by his desperate father David (Steve Carell) become harder to hold on to for long. A must-see for anyone trying to make sense of what an addiction is doing to their loved ones, or looking to make peace with what an addiction has already done.
A SELFLESS DAD
INTERSTELLAR RENT ONLY
Matthew McConaughey plays an exNASA pilot who joins a secret mission into deep space to find a new home for Earth’s dwindling population. To literally save the world, he must face the notion he may never see his children again. The further he travels away from them, the broader and deeper his sacrifice becomes.
A DREAMING DAD
MINARI RENT ONLY
A quiet, wise and beautifully told tale set in the 1980s, where a Korean farming family moves to the rural US to start anew. For father Jacob (Steven Yeun), his sensitive wife Monica and their selfsufficient children, the transfer is like moving to another planet. Just as it seems this fragile family unit could be cracking, a new arrival turns out to be the glue that might hold everything together. One of the best films of 2021.
A LEARNING DAD
THE DESCENDANTS DISNEY+, FOXTEL
A superb George Clooney is Matt King, an Hawaiian property lawyer thrown for a loop on the eve of a deal of a lifetime. With his wife in a coma after a boating mishap, Matt must reconnect with his two daughters, each of whom respect him little and know him even less. The film covers a wide spectrum of emotions in a warm and relatable manner, and not a false note is struck throughout. Co-stars Shailene Woodley.
AN ALTERNATIVE DAD
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC BINGE, FOXTEL or RENT
An uncannily focused drama-comedy about a family who puts the cult in counterculture. A magnificent Viggo Mortensen plays the father of six very individual children he has raised and schooled deep in the forest. A fascinating group portrait of a family that may not change the world, but have the self-belief to ensure the world won’t change them.
A NOSTALGIC DAD
DEFINITELY, MAYBE BINGE, FOXTEL
File this genial feel-good comedy under “it shouldn’t work, but it does”. Ryan Reynolds stars as a single father asked by his only child (Abigail Breslin) to recall how he met her mother. The tale amusingly expands into both a complete overview of his love life, and an intriguing guessing game as to which past girlfriend later became his (soon to be ex-) wife. Co-stars Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz.
A REANIMATED DAD
ONWARD DISNEY+
A lively animated fantasy from Pixar sees teenage elves Ian and Barley (voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) hoping to reunite with their late father. However, the magic spell they use to bring him back doesn’t quite work. Only their dad’s legs materialise. Now Ian and Barley have only 12 hours left to find the rest of him before he vanishes forever. Funny, moving and never dull, even if it ain’t Pixar’s greatest.
A REVEALED DAD
MAMMA MIA! BINGE, FOXTEL, STAN
And here you were, avoiding Mamma Mia for all these years because you assumed it was merely an ABBA-powered karaoke contest generating more flat notes than the US Mint. Block out the wonky warbling, and you’ll discover the movie is actually quite an intriguing who-dad-it, as we wait to find out which ex-boyfriend of a happily single Meryl Streep is the father of her bride-to-be daughter Amanda Seyfried.
A SENTIMENTAL DAD
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE BINGE, FOXTEL
Sorry, but you can’t assemble a list like this without at least one selection from the collected works of Tom Hanks. This sugar-sweet pairing of single dad Tom and roving reporter Meg Ryan is actually improving with age. It certainly wouldn’t get made today: a rom-com so confident it will put a smile on your dial, it doesn’t get around to the boy-meets-girl stuff until the closing scenes.
SOME PREGNANTLY PAUSED DADS
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING NETFLIX, STAN or RENT
What to expect from What To Expect When You’re Expecting when you expect it to be exactly what you’re expecting? In this fuzzy clump of sitcom fluff, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks and Anna Kendrick are about to be “with child” to moderate comic effect. Chris Rock, and Dennis Quaid spearhead a collection of doofus dads waiting impatiently for the big drop.
A HEROIC DAD
SAN ANDREAS NETFLIX, STAN or RENT
While not a very good movie, it’s hard to resist the prospect of Dwayne Johnson going head-to-head with an earthquake that could relocate California to the ocean floor. Johnson plays a chipper chopper pilot who must save his wife and daughter once the cataclysms commence. Stick around for the ridiculous third act, where a tsunami is thrown in for no extra charge.
A HUMBLED DAD
THE JUDGE NETFLIX, STAN or RENT
A solid, enjoyable and engrossing courtroom drama that will please traditional devotees of the genre. The great Robert Duvall plays Joseph, a veteran small-town judge facing a murder charge in his own court after a tragic hit-run incident. Joseph cannot recall the accident, and his only chance of beating certain jail time is to reluctantly hand over his defence to his estranged son Hank (Robert Downey Jr.).
A N INSPIRATIONAL DAD
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS NETFLIX or RENT
A homeless (Will Smith) must pay the bills and find shelter for his young son while staking his entire livelihood on a six-month spell as an unpaid trainee stockbroker. Though misery is piled upon misery in this tension-riddled tear-jerker, remembering such incredible misfortune is based on a true story will snatch respect from the jaws of ridicule. The key here is the gracefully subtle performance of Smith, who gently carries his character’s humble determination as if it is made from crystal glass.