American Son (2019 film)
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''American Son'' is an American
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Kenny Leon Kenny Leon is an American director, producer, actor, and author, notable for his work on Broadway, on television, and in regional theater. In 2014, he won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for ''A Raisin in the Sun''. Career He gaine ...
and written by Christopher Demos-Brown, based on his
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
play of the same name. The film stars
Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fi ...
,
Steven Pasquale Steven Pasquale (pronounced ; born November 18, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the New York City Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician Sean Garrity in the series '' Rescue Me''. He made his television debut on the ...
, Jeremy Jordan and Eugene Lee. It premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
on September 12, 2019, and was released on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
on November 1, 2019. The film received a
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
nomination for Outstanding Television Movie.


Plot

On a stormy night in a Miami police station, Kendra Ellis-Connor is waiting for a report on the whereabouts of her son Jamal, who has suddenly disappeared. She asks for help from Officer Paul Larkin, a rookie cop who can't tell her anything about the incident. Due to both protocol and a lack of knowledge of the incident, he tells her that he has to wait for Lieutenant John Stokes, the AM shift liaison officer. Her estranged husband, FBI agent Scott Connor, arrives at the station, demanding to know where Jamal is. Larkin is able to tell Scott that Jamal and two other black men were pulled over by police. The only other thing he can tell him is the fact that Jamal's car had a provocative bumper sticker about violence against cops. This revelation develops into a long argument between Kendra and Scott, where they confront their tumultuous marriage and their experiences raising a biracial son in a privileged community. Kendra repeatedly brings up how Jamal feels depressed and isolated as one of the very few black men at his school (referring to himself as "the face of the race"), while Scott says that Jamal should have known better than to present himself like "a gangsta." Larkin returns and says that Jamal was with two other black men, one of whom has a warrant for misdemeanor drug possession. After this discovery, Kendra and Scott engage in a lengthy, contentious discussion about Jamal growing up in an environment of racial tension, specifically pertaining to Kendra's own experiences as a black woman and her fears of a possible confrontation between Jamal and police. Scott says that Jamal should not have been hanging out with these men in the first place, prompting Kendra to reveal that Jamal was angry at Scott for leaving them, which is why he placed the bumper sticker on his car. Scott then receives a video from his brother, which shows a recording of the traffic stop Jamal was involved in. In it, a police officer fires at a fleeing suspect as a bystander records it. The video sends Scott over the edge, physically threatening Larkin to know where his son is. At this time, Lieutenant Stokes arrives and places Scott under arrest after Scott shoves him. After booking Scott, Stokes tells Kendra that three black males were taken into custody in connection with the traffic stop, unable to tell if one of them was Jamal. After Scott is released after being given a "promise to appear" court order, Kendra reveals that Jamal left the house after an argument with her. Stokes is able to obtain a full report of the incident: Bell, Rolle, and Jamal were driving around in Liberty City, where Bell (who was driving the car) stopped to purchase a 'nickel bag' of marijuana. Rodney Banks, a black police officer, witnessed the exchange and stopped the car. After both Bell and Rolle exited the vehicle to confront Banks, Bell fled after Banks had trained his gun on both men. Jamal at that point had exited the vehicle, trying to position himself with hands on the hood of the car. Banks proceeded to fire three shots at Bell. One of the bullets (either a stray shot or ricochet) accidentally hits Jamal in the head, killing him instantly. Kendra and Scott are devastated, and Stokes gives them a moment, and they can only wail in agony. In the final scene, Scott exclaims "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" either due to his heart murmur or possibly alluding to the killing of
Eric Garner On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island after Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him. Video footage of the inciden ...
.


Cast

*
Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fi ...
as Kendra Ellis-Connor *
Steven Pasquale Steven Pasquale (pronounced ; born November 18, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the New York City Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician Sean Garrity in the series '' Rescue Me''. He made his television debut on the ...
as Scott Connor * Jeremy Jordan as Officer Paul Larkin * Eugene Lee as Lieutenant John Stokes


Reception

The film received negative reviews, citing its social commentary on the subject of race as being of a "heavy handed" nature. On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Kerry Washington capably anchors ''American Son'' with her nervy turn as a concerned mother, but the staginess of the production ill-serves its heavy-handed social commentary." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * {{IMDb title, 9664078 2019 films 2019 drama films English-language Netflix original films American drama films Films about conversations 2010s English-language films Films directed by Kenny Leon 2010s American films