When I first watched The Good Son, my age was not much different than that of one of its protagonists. So many years later, I decided to watch and review it from a different perspective.
The film follows Mark Evans, a boy sent to live with his cousin Henry after a family tragedy, only to uncover Henry’s sinister nature beneath a facade of charm.
The film offers a unique mixture of psychological tension and a dark Coming-of-Age tale, engaging my attention from its tense opening to its chilling climax.
The opening scenes are heartfelt and deeply emotional, driven by an outstanding performance from Elijah Wood as Mark. The filmmaker skilfully expresses his anguish and sensitivity through close-ups of his face during a visit to his dying mother. As the story progresses, the introduction of Mark’s cousin Henry, played by Macaulay Culkin, begins to shift the tone. Mark emerges as a regular kid trying to navigate his circumstances, showing resilience and refusing to let Henry dominate him. Yet, Henry quickly establishes himself as a master manipulator.
By the time they appeared in The Good Son, both Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin had already achieved the status of child stars. Home Alone and My Girl were big hits, making Macaulay Culkin famous. At the same time, Elijah Wood impressed everyone with his poignant performances in Radio Flyer, Forever Young, and The Adventures of Huck Finn.
In The Good Son, their performances were the film’s driving force, bringing the psychological drama to life. Wood’s portrayal of Mark is heartfelt and vulnerable; his wide-eyed wonder slowly gives way to fear and moral conflict. In contrast, Culkin completely transforms his familiar Home Alone persona, presenting Henry as calm, calculated, and deeply unsettling.
The film’s visual style recalls family dramas from the 1980s-1990s, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, with its focus on suburban innocence disrupted by the uncanny. I have seen many European films, and The Good Son offers a more polished visual style contrasting with the raw observational approach typical for European Coming-of-Age narratives. Here, we have carefully composed shots and heightened suspense, enhanced by a score that amplifies the rising tension. The use of shallow depth of field and soft lighting focuses on the emotions of the young protagonists, creating a natural yet eerie atmosphere. Another difference from the European films is how fast the story moved along. Although the film’s duration is standard at 87 minutes, I didn’t notice how the time flew by. The pacing is remarkable, starting deliberately and then accelerating as the tension mounts.
While I didn’t form a personal connection with the characters (maybe here we can blame the pacing of the story), this isn’t the kind of film that encourages such relationships. Still, Mark’s emotional journey is at the heart of the narrative, and he is the character whose experiences give the film’s story its Coming-of-Age nuances.
The Good Son Trailer
The film’s finale, which I won’t spoil, offers a potent and satisfying resolution that left me wanting more. At its heart, The Good Son is an engaging, tension-filled Coming-of-Age story that balances psychological depth with sharp technical execution. If you have never seen the film, I highly recommend it. It is a film that can be enjoyed by just about anyone, unlike most of the European films that I usually review, which typically require a much more involved audience.
