The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviewsBBC

My Father and Me

My Father and Me | Movie review
18 March 2021
Francis Nash
Avatar
Francis Nash
18 March 2021

Movie and show review

Francis Nash

My Father and Me

★★★★★

Release date

20th March 2021

Platform

BBC

Links

TwitterFacebook

In his recently released documentary, Nick Broomfield turns the camera inward to look at his relationship with his dad, Maurice Broomfield. Though famed for his films on iconic US music stars like Leonard Cohen, Whitney Houston and Kurt Cobain, the title suggests the viewer will be offered an intimate exposure into father-son relations. Actually – and fittingly – My Father and Me is a celebration of Maurice’s hitherto-unrecognised talent as a leading industry photographer in post-war Britain.

His masterful and bold pictures are frequently embedded into and bookend the narrative of the film. Doing so acts as a reminder of the great significance of Maurice’s work and – as we learn – one of many differences that are apparent between the pair.

Such disparities cause no animosity or strain between the duo. However, Broomfield exposes a greater discomfort between his xenophobic grandmother and Maurice’s Ashkenazi-Jewish wife Sonja. Despite this, exploring his mother, too, helps to give the feature a wider and warmer familial feel. Even her father, Gogo – who recounts with horror his experience of liberating Belsen – is explored. 

Indeed, it is the social activist leanings of the Lagusovas that clearly influence Nick’s early career. Clips from Behind the Rent Strike and Juvenile Liaison I and II are interwoven into the movie and remind the viewer of the stark dissimilarities between dad and son. The director offers a sober contrast to Northern English society than that which Maurice depicted in his glamorous, beautifully lit photos. 

This distance between these careers is echoed in the space Maurice puts between himself and his son. At one point, we get a sense of the sadness this causes Broomfield when his former wife, Joan Churchill, tells the camera that Nick is crying as he interviews her.

The work never over-indulges in dwelling on hurt or sorrow, though. Even when Broomfield documents Maurice’s depression after Sonja dies, it is overcome through a chance encounter with second-wife Suzy. From there, the man lives a rejuvenated life with happiness emanating from his relationship with grandson Barney and the successful post-millennium exhibitions celebrating his photography.

In prioritising our focus on the latter over the former throughout the film, Broomfield ensures our last memories of Maurice are as an artist, not just a caring grandfather. My Father and Me is not a standard biographic movie, but a paean of Britain’s most pre-eminent industrial photographer.  

★★★★★

Francis Nash

My Father and Me is released on BBC on 20th March 2021.

Watch the trailer for My Father and Me here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Red Rage

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Bittersweet Symphony

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Final Days

★★★★★
Ben Flanagan
Read More

The Power

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Madame Claude

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Into the Labyrinth

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Original Gangster

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Godzilla vs Kong: A colossal brawl that magnificently delivers what we tuned in to see

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

Rose: A Love Story

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Francis Nash

My Father and Me

★★★★★

Release date

20th March 2021

Platform

BBC

Links

TwitterFacebook

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • The Fratellis – Half Drunk Under a Full Moon
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Power
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Madame Claude
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Playfight at Finborough Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Hysterical! The Hilarious History of Hystery at Theatre Royal Stratford East Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Celebrate the EE BAFTAs this Sunday with Claude Bosi’s free virtual dining experience
    Food & Drinks
  • Shake Shack launches limited edition Vegan Crispy Shallot Burger in partnership with chef Neil Rankin
    Food & Drinks
  • Nutrition Kitchen: Fresh, diverse meal plans to satisfy both fitness fanatics and hardcore foodies
    Food & Drinks
  • Red Rage
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Final Days
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Playfight at Finborough Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Power
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Godzilla vs Kong: A colossal brawl that magnificently delivers what we tuned in to see
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Wellington Paranormal
    ★★★★★
    vod
  • Worn Stories
    ★★★★★
    netflix
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A goosebump-inducing epic worth the long wait | Movie review
Middle Kids – Today We’re the Greatest | Album review