MOTHER AND SON (2019)

Synopsis

In rural Azerbaijan, a mother welcomes her adult son, who left home eight years earlier. In the calm rhythm of rural life, reflective silences punctuate their personal, philosophical conversations.



Cast: Maryam Naghiyeva, Hilal Baydarov


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In a remote village in Azerbaijan, a woman runs her one-person household. She feeds her animals, tends the garden, cleans the house and does the laundry by hand. She’s nearly always alone as the days slip by. Then, after an eight-year absence, her adult son Hilal arrives back at his childhood home.

At first, the mother and her son fall back into the old familiar patterns of their relationship. But then the conversations start to flow, as well as the questions. What made Hilal want to go to the city? Why did he make certain choices when he was a student? How does he see his life? As a troubled filmmaker, will he ever manage to finish anything?

Shot by shot, the house and surrounding land are documented. The locations form the natural setting for sometimes subdued, sometimes painful conversations, punctuated by introspective pauses. Breaking bread together, picking fruit and dozing together on the couch, they also find a bond in silence in and around the house, where time seems to have stood still. --IDFA

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