Dad (1989) – DVD

**/**** Image A- Sound A-
starring Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis, Ethan Hawke
screenplay by Gary David Goldberg, based on the novel by William Wharton
directed by Gary David Goldberg

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover When we talk about family dramas, we inevitably mean male-oriented family dramas. I can't remember the last time I saw a film in which three generations of women strengthened bonds and sought solace in each other, nor can I recall the last time a family of men and women interacted onscreen in a way that didn't toe the patriarchal line. In one sense, Dad is a reasonably decent member of the genus, relatively low-key and only marginally giving in to soap-opera fantasy. But its total erasure of anything that gets in the way of fathers relating to sons blows its credibility in a big way. It's as though half the human race either did not exist, or does so to bolster men–and God help you narratively if you dare to cross that divide.

The ostensible issue is the relationship between John Tremont (Ted Danson) and his father Jake (Jack Lemmon), thrown together when John's mother Bette (Olympia Dukakis) has a sudden heart attack. Taking time off work to stay with Jake, John discovers that his dad is completely helpless without the nerve centre of Bette running the household. Although in any other context this might be seen as fobbing off the home on the wife, here it's evidence that Bette is a draconian killjoy who has to run the whole show. Thus John–a corporate raider with a failed marriage and a distant relationship with his own son, Billy (Ethan Hawke)–must help Jake regain independence even as the older man slips into cancer and imminent death.

Women are either marginalized or demonized within this narrative. John has a sister named Annie (Kathy Baker), but she's incredibly peripheral to the movie, providing exposition and moral support but none of the heavy lifting. While the son runs around barking at doctors for their insensitivity, she stands around looking stricken, or taking Bette to accommodate John and Jake working out various parental and medical issues. Bette, meanwhile, is a castrating monster who comes down on the slightest sign of release, complaining that her husband wants too much sex and what the hell does he want to babysit the neighbourhood kids for? Perhaps there are people like Bette, but the film's imperative that women should fall in step obscures the possibility that she might have valid reasons for being the way she is.

True, the film is possessed by such sincerity that you want to like it more. Not only is Lemmon quite credible (and for once, relatively mannerism-free) in his depiction of the declining patriarch, but the rest of the cast, too, is uniformly excellent. Furthermore, writer-director Gary David Goldberg (creator of "Family Ties") succeeds in overriding the will to be cutesy (despite a palette ennobled by the word "bland"). Still, whatever its genuine concern for the core characters, Dad misses a much better movie by sticking to the hoary fathers-and-sons framework. Had there been a dialogue between all members of the family, the film might have had some thematic heft–but in denying the individual voices of the women, it commits ideological suicide while missing a much more potent movie concept.

THE DVD
Universal's DVD transfer of Dad gives compensatory warm-and-fuzzies. The 1.85:1, 16×9-enhanced image is unusually handsome for a sixteen-year-old film that's a soup of muted tones; definition is quite good and colours are surprisingly vibrant under the circumstances. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound is just as professional, sounding full, round, and clear enough to balance out a lack of activity. Dad's trailer rounds out the disc.

118 minutes; PG; 1.85:1 (16×9-enhanced); English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround; English SDH, French, Spanish subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; Universal