Authored by David Moore, the film titled The List Maker’s Son is about a woman, her husband, and their son. The film opens with the collision between a man and a woman engaged in a violent fight. The scene is terrible because glasses are thrown around, and they hit objects around, such as photograph hangings. After the chaos, Donna and her husband Phillip sleep until they are woken up by the loudly ringing alarm clock and the Muslim early morning prayers. Phillip switches off the alarm clock, but Donna wakes up and writes their respective packing lists. A few moments later, Phillip wakes up and adds to the packing list, “Get a Life.” He then takes his shower and goes to Alex’s room to check his packing. Alex is Phillip’s 14-year-old-son. To his surprise, Alex’s suitcase is unpacked, and Alex is updating his Facebook status about how he hates his parents.
The scenes that follow the three characters are trying to leave the house and take Alex to boarding school. Apparently, they are not well-prepared as the list maker herself; Donna has barely packed her suitcase, and so is Alex. Phillip requires his son to water the plants, but he is pretty reluctant to leave. Later, after the two confront issues that are not related to leaving, Phillip decides to pack the suitcases into the boot of the car at the garage. Donna brings her bag, and at this point, he realizes his wife must have been crying. Before that, Donna had been finishing up on her son’s packing list as he was sleeping. When she leaves, he tears the list and continues to update his status on how he hates holidays with his parents.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Eventually, Alex gets out of bed and waters the flowers. While at it, he compares the flower to his parents, who he feels are stubborn like the thorny flower. After she is done with the washing, she comes across Phillip’s list and realizes what he had added. Sarcastically she adds to the list, “Like the Life you suck from me.” At this point, it is apparent to the audience that Donna and Phillip are a couple who are not happy being in each other’s lives but are probably together because of their son Alex. Furthermore, in the scene where she hands over the suitcase, Phillip ignores her while she cries and instead tells Donna that being around her was problematic because most of the time, she is angry. Their gardener Filipino is in the vicinity while all these take place and leaves the scene. After the awkward silence, Donna exclaims how he had given up so much of her life to be Phillip’s wife and mother to their son Alex.
In the following scene, the setting is in Alex’s parents’ bedroom. Upon sneaking into his parents’ room, he notices the shattered glasses and photographs from the previous night. He advises his father that to resolve the issues with Donna, Phillip needs to make up with her. After a moment, he returns to his bedroom and dresses up, ready to leave. Meanwhile, Donna and Phillip are at the garage having a conversation on how to resolve the issue of going to their current place. While at it, their son Alex takes his blue suitcase and leaves without his parents noticing. Moments later, Phillip realizes their son is gone. He watches a taxi pick up his son from the balcony, shut the door, and they leave. At this moment, Philip realizes there is nothing more left in that place they had called home, of course, except for the Bougainvillea. The film closes as Phillip sits next to the Bougainvillea at the end of the bed in his room.
