Anthony Hopkins amazes in new role

(Journalist)
– French novelist and playwright Florian Zeller may be a new filmmaker, but he seems to have the skills of a seasoned pro. His first feature film, The father—Adapted from his award-winning 2012 play of the same name – has a 100% review rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 85 reviews. Of course, star Anthony Hopkins, playing an 80-year-old man struggling with dementia, has a little something to do with it. What the critics are saying:

• “Both incredibly effective and deeply moving, The father could be the first film on dementia to give me real chills, ”writes Jeannette Catsoulis at New York Times. He “plays with perspective so intelligently that it’s impossible to maintain any kind of emotional distance.” Indeed, “Zeller’s relentlessly subjective approach puts us in the middle of Anthony’s distorted memories” so viewers “wonder where – and when – we are.”
• It is the lack of stability that makes the film “such a breathtaking experience” – “a sensory free-for-all compressed into austere poetry,” writes Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street newspaper. Playing “complex mind games with the audience,” Zeller comes up with a “flirtatious, blunt, terribly moving and at times very funny” film, but Hopkins is “master of everything,” he adds. “The actor merges with the character in a performance that is both stunning and inspiring.”

• Hopkins gives his best performance in decades in this “immersive study of the character of an elderly man who struggles to rationalize his existence as he loses his grip on the people and things around him,” Brian Truitt writes at USA today. An “amazing” Hopkins “happens to touch every part of the emotional spectrum and the result is as indelible a role as when Hopkins donned Hannibal’s mask and won an Oscar for Thesilenceofthelambs. “
• “This is one of the absolute best works of Hopkins ‘long and successful career,” but fellow Oscar winner Olivia Colman, playing Hopkins’ daughter, “is still his equal,” writes Christy Lemire on RogerEbert.com. “As our guide – as much as Zeller will allow us – Colman is great,” she wrote. Lemire also congratulates decorator Peter Francis and publisher Yorgos Lamprinos. Lamprinos’ work here “is so complicated and yet so sober, it is like a magic trick before our eyes.”

The film will be released in select theaters on Friday and nationwide on March 12. (Read more stories from movie reviews.)