Sons

It’s a boy!  

March 16, 2016. Justin Simms has just become a dad.

But his joy is tinged with unease. Little Jude enters the world at a time when traditional notions of masculinity are being contested as never before. How can he teach his boy to be a good man?

With Sons, eight eventful years in the making, the Newfoundland-based filmmaker confronts the challenge with imagination and creative flair, crafting a big-hearted documentary essay on parenting, patriarchy—and the pain and pleasure of guiding boys through the turbulent cultural waters of the early 21st century.

Woven throughout is luminous informal footage of Jude’s early years, charting his trajectory from helpless newborn to hurricane of a boy, obsessed with dinosaurs and superheroes.

How can fathers steer sons away from negative models of masculinity and help them become caring adults? What does it even mean to be a “good man”? Isn’t it enough to nurture basic human qualities—empathy, confidence, common decency—without dwelling on gender?

Anchoring his enquiry in his home turf, a vibrant neighbourhood in downtown St. John’s, Simms enlists the help of family, friends and an engaging gang of fellow dads, all grappling with the challenge of parenting boys. “Masculinity can be beautiful,” observes one participant, “but it needs a new story now.”

Making inventive use of archival imagery, Simms evokes a traditional maritime culture where men frequently were separated from their families, and in a series of soul-bearing conversations with his own father, he explores how “masculinity” can always be questioned, always be reimagined.