Father & Daughter stories have always been popular on the big screen and we have been treated to some fantastic films, where this has been the core theme, over the years.
Maggie
We are set to return to that theme this week as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin team up for the first time for new zombie horror Maggie, which sees Henry Hobson in the director's chair.
To celebrate the release of Maggie today, we take a look at some of the best father/daughter movies. Which is your favourite?
- Maggie (2015)
Seeing as Maggie has hit the big screen this morning it does seem like an appropriate place to start. Maggie is the directorial debut from British director Henry Hobson. The film stars Schwarzenegger (Terminator, The Expendables), Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), and Joely Richardson (The Patriot).
A teenage girl in the Midwest becomes infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. During her transformation, her loving father stays by her side.
While we do see all of the images that we would expect from a zombie film, the father & daughter story is at its heart and this is what sets it apart from other movies that we have seen in this genre.
Maggie is a movie about watching the human you love slip away and there is something incredibly powerful about looking at the zombie movie from this angle.
- Les Miserables (2012)
Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Tom Hooper's adaptation of the popular musical was one of 2012's most talked-about films.
The father-daughter duo in question form one of the film's main storylines with Hugh Jackman and Amanda Seyfried at the helm. In 19th Century France, ex-convict Jean Valjean (Jackman) agrees to care for a dying factory worker's daughter Cosette (Seyfried).
The decision changes their lives forever in this heart-breaking tale of love post-revolution rebellion. However, it is the strongest relationship in the film and the one that packs the greatest punch - especially towards the end of the film.
We watch Valjean go to great lengths to project Marius, the man that Cosette love, during the uprising that they are both a part of. Jackman and Seyfried also deliver some incredibly powerful moments towards the end of the film as Valjean tries to hide the fact that he is dying from his daughter so not to spoil her wedding day.
Les Miserables is a movie about a man on the run from the law as well as about revolution, but it is also packed with complex and interesting relationships.
- Taken (2008)
It was back in 2008 when Taken hit the big screen for the first time and we were introduced to the character of Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA agent played by Liam Neeson. Seventeen-year-old
Kim (Maggie Grace) is the apple of her father Bryan Mills' (Neeson) eye. Bryan, a retired agent, left the CIA to be near his daughter, who lives with her mother and stepfather in California.
When Kim, manages to persuade her reluctant father to allow her and a friend to travel to Paris, chaos ensues. Both Kim and her friend Amanda are kidnapped by a gang of Albanian human traffickers leaving Bryan to use his 'very particular set of skills' to find and kill his daughter's kidnappers.
Taken is an explosive film that saw Neeson's career go down a very different path, as he became an action hero. And while there are all the hallmarks that you expect from a film like this - a cat & mouse element, gunfights, and violent - it is a father's desperate search for his father that is this film's driving force.
While Neeson and Grace actually spend very little time together on screen during the film, it is the importance of this relationship to Bryan that hangs over the whole movie and is captured so well by director Pierre Morel. We have seen this relationship explored further in Taken 2 and Taken 3.
- I am Sam (2001)
Sean Penn puts in an Academy Award nominated performance as Sam Dawson a man with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old child. Beatles obsessed Sam has a daughter with a homeless woman, who shortly after giving birth abandons him and his newborn daughter Lucy Diamond, named after the Beatles song.
Sam raises the child alone, but as Lucy reaches the age of seven, his mental limitations begin to hold her back and Lucy intentionally holds back to avoid appearing smarter than her father.
This results in Lucy being taken away by the authorities. Not willing to take no for an answer, Sam shames high priced lawyer into taking his case pro bono and along the way teaches her about unconditional love.
I am Sam is a movie that is not without its faults, but the performances from both Penn and Fanning really do elevate it to something more. Penn is one of the best actors around and his central turn as Sam, who struggles to prove that he is a capable father.
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1963)
Perhaps one of films most iconic father-daughter relationships is Robert Mulligan's take on the Harper Lee classic.
Gregory Peck and Mary Badham star as father-daughter duo Atticus and Scout. Peck puts in an Academy Award winning turn as Lawyer Atticus Finch who goes against the townspeople of a racially divided Alabama town and defends a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman.
Badham was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Scout an adoring daughter who throughout the film is taught the importance of respect, love, and acceptance.
Hard to believe that To Kill a Mockingbird is over fifty years old and yet it remains a powerful and relevant film today.
- Father of the Bride (1991)
In this remake of Spencer Tracy's classic, Steve Martin stars as George Banks the father of soon to be wed Annie (Kimberly Williams-Paisley).
Martin puts in one of his ever-popular comedic performances as a nervous father who is not quite ready to face the fact that his little girl is now a woman and that he must let her go. Diane Keaton and Martin Short also star in this feel-good 90s classic.
For me, Father of the Bride really does remain one of Martin's best performances. As well as being hilariously funny, Father of the Bride is a touching movie about a dad not wanting to let go of his daughter - something that many can relate to.
Father of the Bride is a movie that has a lot of heart and is packed with charm. Throw in great performances from Martin Short and Diane Keaton and this is a movie that never seems to get old - can you believe it was released over twenty years ago?
Maggie is out in cinemas now.
Tagged in Les Miserables