“Blake Morrison's pain is invasive and all-embracing as recounted in his book and repeated in this adaptation, which is a wake and a weep for a father lost to male failures of communication.”  Andrew L. Urban - Urbancinefile

“The catharsis here is all the more moving because of what wasn’t finished, what remained unsaid and what in the answer to the title’s question proves unknowable.”  Sid Smith - Chicago Tribune

Based on the memoir by the British poet, Blake Morrison, this is British cinema at its best.  In a masterstroke of casting, Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth play father and son, trying to make sense of their past as the father is dying.  The British do this sort of thing so well, so enjoy the opportunity to revel in impeccable acting, excellent script and accomplished film-making technique.

Perhaps this is not so much the enjoyment of something different but rather the enjoyment of the familiarly classic.