A Conversation With Dad

A Sunday Conversation With Dad

Bruce Von Stiers

Conversations between fathers and sons can be simple or complex, enlightening or boring, entertaining or filled with fraught moments.

There is a short comedy drama film, Sundays With Dad. It centers on a conversation between Ben and his son, Jason. This conversation has many of the elements I mentioned.

Jason comes to visit his dad. Apparently, this is a weekly engagement, this visit. For this visit, Ben is on his back patio listening to some classical music by Debussy. After a brief conversation at a fence gate, Ben invites Jason to come sit with him. But only if Jason has brought chicken salad sandwiches.

The conversation moves around Jason's work as an actor, having just done a voiceover for a commercial. Erectile disfunction and anal bleaching are a couple of types of commercials that Ben asks if Jason's was about.

The conversation has to go upward from there. But as they eat their sandwiches, Ben reveals to Jason that he's hired a prostitute. Jason is not happy. But this financial arrangement is not for sex, but for companionship. This is one of those distraught elements I mentioned at the start of the review. Ben lets Jason know that this is not a “girlfriend experience”, but a “companion experience.”

Ben has a lengthy speech, where he lays out the reasons why he hired the prostitute. And, in the end, Jason finally gets it.

Timothy J. Cox played Jason. He also wrote the screenplay for the film. Cox has well over a hundred fifty screen credits, including two films I recently reviewed, After and Hard Truths.

George R. Hildebrand played Ben. Listed as a “mature actor”, Hildebrand has co-starred in films such as Chickaboom, The Female Hustler 2 and the period drama, 1665.

Thomas Angeletti was the director. He directed the horror film Friends Forever and several other feature and short films, including After.

Jake Reynolds was the cinematographer. His previous credits behind the camera include Ms. Joys Cookies and The Demons Within.

The production companies involved in the film were Alysm Films Production and Cinnemon Products.

In this film, the son, Jason, plays a secondary role. The film is really centered on Ben and the loneliness that surrounds him since his wife Maggie died. And that he deserves to have some happiness and joy, even though nobody could ever replace Maggie in his life. Not even the time that Jason spends with him is enough.

Cox does a nice job in his role as the dutiful son, visiting his father every Sunday. But it is Hildebrand who delivers the strongest role. The speech where Ben lays out his loneliness and desire for renewed happiness and joy is outstanding.

Sundays With Dad is currently making the rounds at film festivals. The film will be available to the general public after it has completed its festival run.

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