My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? [DVD] [2009]

Interesting, atmospheric feature from a Herzog-Lynch (!) team. Superb casting and intriguing plot is treated in way that could enchant any Herzog/Lynch fan, even though a criminal suspense is somewhat softened by ubiquitous, "too-much" music which never stops. Anyway, this is exactly what one can expect from such collaboration: improvisationary acting, strange characters and moody atmosphere.
Interviews with Herzog and some of the actors also included.

I'll get it out of the way now, i am a huge Herzog fan, so i'm sorry if i may seem a little biased at times.

I put on this DVD knowing little about it, the way i usually like to go into a film. it opens in a typically Herzogian fashion, Lynch fans may say Lynchian, but i'll stick with what i know best and what with Herzog being in creative control, and knowing the mans history for control on set i'd say Lynch had very litle to do with the finished product, other than making sure it got to a distributor, but I digress, it opens in typical herzog style, long shot of a passing train, music, cut straight to our detectives talking in their car.

No time is wasted and the story very quickly gets to where we will be spending the rest of the movie, aside from scenes covering the back story.

i'm not going to say much about the story itself as i personally don't like to know anything much about a film before i watch it, maybe a little basic story, but that's about it.

In short it is The story of Brad, played by the very talented Michael Shannon, a persistant "manchild" who lives with his overbearing mother, played by typically offbeat Lynch regular Grace Zabriskie, he is a gifted actor, but becomes rather obsessed with a role in a Greek tragedy he is rehearsing, leading to him slaying his mother with a sword.

The rest of the film is flashbacks leading upto and helping to explain, the tragic events.

The whole cast is very good, especially Michael Shannon, as Brad, and Chloe sevigny as his girlfriend. Willem Dafoe plays it fairly low key as one of the detectives and Herzog regular Brad Dourif gets to be wonderfully over the top as Brads Bird farming Uncle.

Many moments make it feel like Herzog is referencing his past films, The scenes in Peru bring back memories of Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, the Dwarf and the baby horse can't help but conjour up memories of Even dwarfs started small. and even a mention of chickens in any Herzog film in any context will always bring back images of the end of Stroszek, and lastly Herzog's takes that go on that little bit longer than the cast expects, usually reserved for his documentaries have a place in this piece.

In closing if you like Herzog you can't go wrong, and i'm sure that Lynch fans, going by what Lynch fans have said in reviews, will find something here to like too.

Sorry for any typos, spelling or grammatical errors... it's late.

I saw this at the cinema recently and was very impressed. Having always been a fan of Herzog and Lynch I was interested to see how much influence Lynch might of had on the film in his role as producer. The answer is, I think, a fair amount. The film is unmistakably 'Herzog' in the characterization and story with definate echoes of his classic work, notably Aquirre. Yet Lynch's influence is extremely apparent at times creating a surreal sheen to the proceedings (there's even a creepy dwarf bit!)

All this goes to create an extremely entertaining film which leaves you with plenty to ponder afterward.

A quick note on the cast - Willem Dafoe gives one of his best and empathetic performances in years. Uldo Kier crops up in a brilliant cameo role - but the star is Michael Shannon who is simply excellent, he's really turning into one of the best character actors around.

In a nutshell, the film delivers a great, tense police/hostage/siege thriller but also has a sly humour and intelligence sadly lacking from most mainstream fare.