One critic has called "Le fils" (The Son) the worst imaginable example of an overtly European movie. Indeed, the Dardenne brothers - winners of the Palme d'Or at Cannes a couple of years ago - can be blamed for just that, since their investigations into cinema have little, if anything, to do with movie entertainment. You won't find any special effects, pretty scenery, dramatic action scenes, or even any fast editing to help "Le fils" move along.

Olivier (played by Olivier Gourmet, who won Best Actor at Cannes this year), a carpenter in a reform school for teenage boys, is a lonely, quiet man, as well as a master at his job. He relays his knowledge to the young delinquents in a very businesslike way, helping them acquire a profession so they can fit back into society. And very soon, they're able to carry wood, hitch it onto their shoulders and up a ladder, drill holes and tell the difference between oak and pine - all of which is depicted in great detail.

That's all the moviemakers are doing for the first half of the movie: simply watching, very closely, from all angles, everyday life. And at times this does definitely get boring. However, the plot is spun around the fact that one of the boys turns out to have killed Olivier's son a couple of years ago during a robbery - something the man can't get over and that emotionally dominates his life. From here on, the repetitive motions, glances and even the breathing take on special meaning and create an atmosphere as tense as a thriller.

Till the very end, you can only guess where the directors are taking you, but one thing's for sure: Behind the shaky camerawork and illusion that everything is simple observation, there's a very lofty, even metaphysical goal, which manifests itself only at the very end in a powerful value-statement. And even that is ever so typical of overtly European movies. Runs from Oct. 17-27 at TsDL.