American Son

Kerry's depiction of a mother worries for her missing son is highly believable. The fact that she, who is black, is met by a young police officer, who is white, and that they have to grapple with their individual reactions to each other i.e. inexperience and all too common micro aggressions on his part and a different lived experience and suspicion on her part made for uncomfortable but riveting scenes. Also loved the scene between her and the more seasoned cop which, besides displaying an overuse of force by a black officer, also delivered some difficult truths.

I love that there were so many layers to the plot besides the scenes between the mother and the police officers. The film also succeeds in showing the aftermath of a marriage that has completely broken down and just how far people can drift from those first blissful moments in a relationship. Anyone whose ever been through a bitter break-up will surely recognize the truths in these scenes.

The transition from Broadway to television was, in my opinion, extremely well done. The focus was squarely on the four performers which is where it should be and not on a whole lot of Hollywood-type frills. Makes me wish I had seen the original play.

Brilliant script! Great actors! A simple yet powerful script, only 4 actors, one room.

Loved it! Kerry Washington, always powerful!

I found this movie absorbing and it has left me exhausted having just watched it. I have read some of the other reviews and I do agree you have to get through the first ten minutes and allow the mum to be annoying, thats kind of the point. People often say somehting was a rollercoaster and this truly was. I lost count of how many times I thought, well thats a terrible stereotypical point of view only for one of the characters to call the other character out on it and thats how it goes on. If you fast forwarded through it, if you didn't finish it then it is no wonder you found it boring or didn't understand it. It is from a play and is filmed as a play so there's no fighting or shoot outs or any real action of any kind. But the emotional turmoil is no less effective. The acting is top notch - actually if you do find the mum really annoying then that is really a compliment - and the ending is handled perfectly. It makes you think, it makes you wonder, it really is worth a look.

I read a few reviews and got the story of this being a broadway play. First off knowing this you'll kind of be pulled into a theatre play environment. The actors were great. But what I loved more than anything was the use of mostly 1 location. For a film to be able to keep someone drawn to the story and using only 1 locations I have to say is great work by the writers and production team.

I feel that this film has a lot of hidden messages. Race being a main one but it will slowly slide into other factors privileged vs. poor, police vs. citizen, and fear vs safety. I hate to say I was hoping it would end the way it did early on. It is heart breaking ending but I feel it was needed I feel to portray the ultimate goal of the film. Seeing this makes me really want to see the broadway play in a theatre setting.

The film sets a subject that everyone wants to see and no body really wants to admit. It hit on a lot of social factors. I want to end on that the actors were amazing at depicting there characters the production picked a great group that really made this film what it is. And on another note got to see Jeremy Jordan who plays Wynn on super girl take the cop role.

I totally get what this movie is attempting to do and bring light to. The problem is that Scott and Kendra are so drastically different on such a fundamental level, it is inconceivable that they would've been attracted to one another; let alone, marry and have a son.