No. 35 Herbert White (2010) 46 of 100

 

This is the third of three short films that Shannon has listed on his Wikipedia page. I’ve already had a look at 'Zamboni Man' and 'Mullitt' and my views of these can be found elsewhere in this blog. This one came a bit later in Shannon’s career, by which time he was an established actor. Of the three this is probably the least appealing owing to the subject matter and you have to wonder why they bothered with this grubby project.

The 14 minute film follows a day in the life of the titular Herbert. He works in forestry and much of the film is taken up with shots of him bringing down trees in his timber cutting machine.

We see him go out with his family and he tells his wife that he needs to stop at the side of the road for a pee. He heads into the woods and starts to pleasure himself. When he returns his wife asks if we was taking a dump as he was away for so long.

He gets home and returns calls made by his father and the relationship is clearly fractured. He fiddles with his radio and is called away from his bedroom solitude by his young daughter.

After some more forestry work he stops his truck to ask a woman directions and we then cut to Herbert dragging the woman into the same woods he stopped at before. She has a bashed in head and Herbert proceeds to have sex with her corpse. The camera pulls back and we see the sordid act is being witnessed by another corpse, presumably a previous victim, and no doubt the source of Herbert’s earlier arousal.

This short film is based on a poem of the same name by American poet Frank Bidart. I looked this up and it’s even worse than the film! One passage reads

“ I got in the truck, and started to drive,

and saw a little girl—

who I picked up, hit on the head, and

screwed, and screwed, and screwed, and screwed, then buried, in the garden of the motel…”

Not exactly one to recite to your church poetry group! I appreciate these people do exist as do their terrible acts but I struggle to see it as entertainment. The film was written and directed by James Franco whose work I usually enjoy. This not so much! The filming was clearly done on the hoof with a lot of jerky shots and jarring edits.

It was a surprise as the film drew to a close just how depraved Herbert was and you have to fear for his daughter.

Shannon gives his performance his all and there is no effort made to explain the character’s motivations although Daddy issues are rote large. I think him cutting down trees was a not too subtle metaphor and his dead eyed, emotionless actions towards his victims was quietly terrifying.

Probably not one to watch if you are of a sensitive disposition, but it certainly was affecting and packed a lot into a short run time.

Herbert White / 2010 (youtube.com)

When is Shannon-On? - 00.08

Outcome? Living his best, terrible, life

Film 3/5

Shannon Stars 4/5