Sovereign Son

Marcus van Belkum grew up without a father. One day, he was informed that this man, British-born Stanley, had died alone in a tent in Amsterdam. Intrigued and in search of his own identity, Marcus travels the world gathering traces of Stanley’s complicated past. 

Cindy Jansen offers the portrait of an ordinary man, Marcus van Belkum, who is deeply uncertain of his male role in society. His own father, Stanley, abandoned him at birth; now, after learning of Stanley’s years spent living and dying in a tent in Amsterdam, Marcus goes in search of hitherto unknown relatives and siblings around the world, learning about his father’s murky life path. At the same time, and responding to the failure of his personal relationships, Marcus becomes attracted to right-wing, internet propaganda about resurgent masculine values, tinged with homophobia.

Sovereign Son records the tensions between Jansen and her subject. She gives him ample time and room to express himself, and is clearly empathetic toward his problems and longings. At the same time, Marcus is clearly driven by fantasy, and influenced by questionable beliefs; he wants to emerge as a virile hero from this film. But can he, really? Jansen illustrates his fantasies in an ironic and ambiguous way, through AI-generated clips that are both glossy and creepy.

– Adrian Martin

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