-Written by Kyle Bain.
Written by and starring Timothy J. Cox, Sundays with Dad tells the story of Jason (Cox) and his father Ben (George R. Hildebrand) during their weekly hangout. When Ben expresses to Jason that he has hired a prostitute to ease his pain, to deal with the passing of his wife, the tone shifts. Conversation ensues, words are exchanged, emotions boil over, and the love between a father and son is understood.
In a relatively straightforward story, Cox and Director Thomas Angeletti look to explore the relationship between a father and son, and what becoming a widower after more than forty years can do to a person. Sundays with Dad eases viewers into this discussion, however, and the short film does take a bit of time to develop as a result. When first watching the film I found myself questioning why it took so long for Cox and Angeletti to get to the conversation about the prostitute. By the time the film concluded, however, it dawned on me that Sundays with Dad eases us in for a specific reason–it desperately wants us to understand the depth of the relationship between Jason and Ben, and I believe it works. Clocking in at about twenty-two minutes, Sundays with Dad does have a bit of time to play with, to provide some exposition and let us into the world of this father-son relationship, and I feel that the duo of Cox and Angeletti use time to their advantage.
I did feel a connection to the two characters in Sundays with Dad, and that’s a testament to Cox’s script and Angeletti’s ability to develop it into something complete and accessible.
It seems that Cox reached out to Hildebrand about potentially playing his father in the short film that he wrote the script for. I can see why he’d reach out. Beyond his acting ability, the resemblance between the two is uncanny. Had Sundays with Dad been named something else entirely, had the film not directly told viewers that the two were related, it would have been entirely too easy to draw that conclusion on our own. This seems like a small piece of this film, but part of watching any narrative film is suspending disbelief–and the strong resemblance between the two characters make that incredibly easy from start to finish.
Again, Sundays with Dad runs for just about twenty-two minutes, but I do wish that it had run a bit shorter. As the film moves toward its conclusion there is a moment in which Ben steps out of frame, leaving the camera to look at nothing but the picturesque backyard in which the father and son have resided during the entirety of the film. This is the moment that I wish the film had come to a close. The story had ultimately concluded, the issues present had been resolved, and the film was, for all intents and purposes, done. There’s another minute or so after this, and while there is emotion present in Sunday with Dad until the very end, I don’t believe that the final scene was necessary. I feel that cutting the film by just a minute or two would have finished things up nicely.
All in all, Sundays with Dad is a nicely constructed film that lets us into the world of Jason and Ben with ease. With brilliant casting, a simple and relatable script, and just the right amount of emotion, Sundays with Dad is effective in its journey. Even with a hiccup or two along the way, I found myself connected to the film nearly every step of the way.
Directed by Thomas Angeletti.
Written by Timothy J. Cox.
Starring George R. Hildebrand & Timothy J. Cox.
8/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
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