I absolutely love this scene. The best part about it is Clayton's tone when he speaks to Henry. It isn't sugar-coated but it's not harsh either. It's so rare to see genuine father/son moments like this portrayed in film.
My son is 13. He’s been through a tough custody battle. I now have sole custody. I speak to him with this conviction. His mom abandoned us in 08. He has the best parts of me and will be 100 times more successful than me.
@Matthew Whitehouse That was seriously uncalled for. You don’t know this guy. Who are you to judge him? It’s extremely difficult to be a single parent. Get over yourself.
The scene is more complicated than that. The father isn’t a hero in that scene. He’s scared because part of the reason he hates his brother is because he sees some of himself in his brother. He comes from a family of men with problems. And his money problems are part of that. And he’s terrified here, dumping all that on his son. It’s good to build your son up like that, but the dismissive way he talks about the boy’s uncle isn’t great. Because it’s not driven entirely by fatherly or familial concern. It’s also driven by worry and projection. You hate most the things in other people that you fear are true of yourself.
He’s talking about how his son takes responsibility for his actions, as all adults must do. “Sh** keeps falling out of the sky” for people who don’t. Powerful speech and scene
As a parent, you can never truly know how your child is going to turn out. You can't see all of the million pieces of genetic material that make each child unique. My Dad used to give me these same sorts of pep talks and was an incredible father, and I still turned out to be one of those people for whom shit keeps falling out of the sky. Free will is a heavy responsibility.
We inherit the best of them and the worst of them. The biggest hurdle of all is to understand the worst... And to overcome it and become something better than what we came from. Sometimes all we can see is the bad but the good is there. That's what this film really seems to be about. Clayton was a total workaholic and seemed to be a peripheral presence in his family's life. He only saw them from the surface. This is shown to us in the scene when he's taking his son to school and he says that he knows his dad won't even look at the book he's talking about. He's used to being second to his fathers work. In the end though Clayton is confronted with the harsh reality of life - he can choose to put his work first but in the end his job will not support him at his lowest - it is his family that will come through to support him. In the end it wasn't Marty's loan that saved him, it was his sons book, it was his estranged brother, it was his relative with police connections. If he hadn't read that passage in the book he never would have stopped and would have gotten blown up.
"Is that "Okay, you understand."? Or "Okay, proceed.?" Silence. Swinton crosses over from sanctioning an investigation to greenlighting a murder. This ranks among my Top 5 favorite movies of all time. Smart, fast-moving and entirely plausible. Arthur's murder is arguably the best on-screen assassination ever filmed: No music, dispassionate, ice cold and done in a single take. This movie is so realistic, it's creepy. The dialog between Clooney and Swinton in the climax is incredible. Thank you Tony Gilroy & Sydney Pollack. Tilda, you deserved that Oscar.
For people who missed it..... This scene is 2 parts. The other has his brother picking him up after his car is bombed. The realization that he's also screwed up.
I've seen this money late at night at the cinema with friends when I was 13 years old. They were not really happy about it but I was intrigued but I thought it was very similar to Erin Brockovich. I might go back and rewatch it.
The boy's uncle(Michael's brother) is what many would call a loser. Michael, the father in this scene, is paying for his brother's debt to the mob. Furthermore, the brother (or uncle) got a girl pregnant and all his relationships are breaking down. The brother is an alcoholic and drug user, as well. The father, Michael Clayton, is basically telling his son something few people ever realize and fully embrace: bad things happen to everyone. You either except it and realize you can learn from your mistakes. When you learn, take responsibility, and accept mistakes it leads to growth, allowing you to elevate your life. If you don't learn from your mistakes, you become the norm and just accept the bad things that happen to you as a normal life that you have no control of. This leads to thinking you have no control of your life. Thus, eventually, you blame everything on everyone else. It's a beautiful scene.
You obviously do not understand English or the import of these words or you would have been able to appreciate the tone of this scene and realise that sometimes, even with 10 year olds, cursing is demanded for impact.
You obviously missed the best scene in the movie when George Clooney tells Tilda Swinton how much trouble she's in. Go back and watch the movie this time.
@@RobertSmith-wc3so i remember when he tells her your fucked .. and she goes u dont want the money? lol your right..i loved this movie tho tom wilkinson was great in it too
