Fathers and Sons

A SCREAMING MAN (2010) (B) - This slow burn occasionally borders on tedium, but at 92 minutes and with a powerful lead performance, it manages to provide a compelling portrait of a middle-aged man competing with his son for relevance. Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), also known as Champion for his youthful swimming exploits, tends the pool at a club in N'Djamena, Chad. But new Chinese club owners are purging older workers, and the manager fancies Adam's son, Abdel (Diouc Koma), and so Adam is demoted to working the front gate.

Adam also feels pressure from local military leaders, who extract taxes for the war against the rebels. Adam makes a fateful decision that could earn him his job back -- but at a much higher price than paying money to the rebels. Adam's resentments are never clearly stated but rather encapsulated in his persistence in hanging on to his youth. He still walks with an athlete's lanky strut. A simple scene of him doing sit-ups speaks volumes. Writer-director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun creates a low, satisfying hum throughout Adam's ordeal that will engulf his family.

THE WINDOW (2009) (A-minus) - Antonio Larreta is mesmerizing as a dying man holding vigil in his bed as he awaits a visit from his estranged son. Writer-director Carlos Sorin uses Laretta -- who literally looks like he's on his death bed (the actor was in his mid-80s at the time and would live to be 92) -- as the centerpiece around which a delightful cast of characters assembles.

The frail Antonio can count on his faithful servants Maria del Carmen and Emilse at his rose-colored retreat in Patagonia, Argentina. Buzzing in and around the mansion over the course of the main day that the film takes place are a piano tuner (Antonio's son is a celebrated pianist), a doctor and a friend. Everyone's task can be traced to preparations for the arrival of the son.

Hard-headed Antonio decides to take an ill-advised stroll to experience the elements outside his window. Sorin's tender treatment of this man's final days and hours can be considered rose-colored itself -- especially in gauzy flashbacks to Antonio's childhood that bookend the movie -- but there is not denying their emotional appeal. At a brisk 85 minutes, this often unfurls like a perfectly executed stage play.