"Le fils de Jean" or "A Kid" is a French film from 2016 that took almost until 2018 to finally hit German theaters. It runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and got its 2 male protagonists a solid deal of awards recognition. There is a really long list of writers attached to this project and one of them is Philippe Lioret, who is of course also the director here. You could definitely call this film a family drama. It is about one man's journey from Paris to Canada to find (out about) his father that he never met before in his life. And there he experiences a lot more than he had expected. Okay if we are honest, everybody with a trained eye for movies instantly realized the plot twist towards the end 10 minutes into this movie. The camera shots and dialogue writing gave this one away oh so quickly. And as almost the entire first half is all about that, I personally found the second half better. It was clear that the man was nothing like his two greedy and drunk "brothers" or their womanizer dad, even if the latter may have had his good sides too as we find out when they say he immediately would have gotten the cancerous old man to a hospital. The cancer story line did feel a bit rushed admittedly and only there for the sake of it getting some easy emotions out of the audience. Same about the violent ex-boyfriend part. The mother/grandmother's depiction of knowing what was going on, but not being able to talk about it to her husband was something I quite liked. Definitely among the much better aspects of the film. Overall thanks to the improvement and the insight into the family with some solid writing about and acting by the members, this film quickly reached terrain where I would recommend checking it out with no hesitation. Moments of greatness you maybe won't find too many if at all, but the strong ensemble performance here makes this one certainly worth checking out in my opinion. I liked the starting romance that eventually was not needed though in order for this to become a quality movie. It's tough to filter out one area, aspect or performance that I liked the most, but there are also no major weaknesses in here, almost no weaknesses at all I'd even say. A well-rounded effort this is, especially in the second half. Not necessarily a film that is worth more seeing on the big screen than on the small screen at your home, but you really cannot do anything wrong with this one. Oh yeah, also make sure you have French subtitles if you don't want to see a dubbed version, unless you speak the language. Enough now. This one wants to be seen.

Philippe Lioret has not made a bad movie yet ;I would go as far as to write that "Toutes Nos Envies" ,"Je Vais Bien Ne T'en Fais Pas" ,"L'Equipier" "Welcome" or "Tombés Du Ciel"have placed him firmly and definitively among French finest contemporary directors .With "Le Fils De Jean " ,he's simply become my favorite contemporary French director.

I still wonder why I like his movies so much : take this latest work:the story of the son/daughter who has never known his/her father and finds him again has been told,told,and TOLD.Besides ,Mathieu is divorced ,one of the clichés of the French cinema.

The first fifteen minutes perplexed me.But the further acquaintance says this:another topflight Lioret movie.Every time he transcends the often melodramatic subject ,every time he makes it absorbing and endearing.Far from the feel-good fashion which mars the present French scene , his characters are made of flesh and blood, and they are In SEARCH of something : his lost son for the father in " Je Vais Bien" ,a new land for the young immigrant of " Welcome",a reason to carry on her earthly ride for the terminally-ill lawyer in "Toutes Nos Envies" ....

"Le Fils De Jean" is perhaps his most complex work ,for it is a double search ; a search for a father he has never known and for two brothers he has never had for Mathieu;a mysterious search for Pierre,who ,little by little,considers the French illegal son as the son he has never had .Compared to this,the search of the dead body which might be at the bottom of a lake , is somewhat pathetic and the brothers Mathieu longs to love show themselves greedy and devoid of humanity.As for Pierre ,he is disillusioned,embittered , ill: in the first part,he is contemptuous, hostile ,as though he had a secret too hard to conceal.

"What's the name of the lake?" asks Mathieu ."None ;we just call him "the lake" "like me" says the boy ,of an unknown father".

The picture may puzzle the viewer -and the fact that Mathieu can estimate right away is a bit unlikely- but it inspires Lioret's disregard for money : the stethoscope who reportedly belonged to Mathieu's dad means more to him than a 80,000 dollars painting ;the same for the doctor who "has always tried not to make too much money";moreover ,it's this instrument which reveals the truth ,an admirable breathtaking sequence ,in every sense of the term.Note that when he talks to Pierre in the last sequences ,he uses "Tu" (second person singular) instead of the formal "Vous "(second person plural)

Pierre Deladonchamps is a promising newcomer (who finds here a much better part than in "L'Homme Du Lac " which suffered from a poor screenplay),who discovers that his search is not necessarily the one which concerns him ;as the film progresses ,it's Gabriel Arcand who becomes the true hero of the movie; like Kad Merad in "Je Vais Bien ", this sullen character becomes more and more human and wise ,even hating traditional medicine .The thespian's performance is a tour De force ,from a disagreeable grumbler to a distraught wreck with a gaunt face.

It's another damn great movie by a director who is going to be around for a long time.

A different take on a now grown adult seeking the dad & thus the family he didn't know because of a one night stand decades ago. The man a French Canadian w/a Parisian female. A small twist. Logical, but no DNA searching or comparisons. A bit incomplete ending. This seeking adult has a marital problem of his own which is unresolved if not made more complicated by a not healthy attachment to another female. The scene of two adults w/children on their laps in the back seat of a car is a serious & potentially deadly error in the script - dumb. Lots of smoking by a lot of people. A cheap way to create a visual that also has it's consequences - also dumb. Outcome w/painting misplaced; should be w/female. Not a well resolved ending.