No. 71 My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) 35 of 100

 

When the titles tell you the film you are about to watch is directed Werner Herzog and is produced by David Lynch you know that you are in for something a bit offbeat.

The film starts conventionally enough with police detectives, Willem Dafoe and Michael Pena, on the way to a murder scene. When they arrive they push through the crowd and we briefly see Michael Shannon who pushes by with his coffee in a ‘razzle dazzle’ mug. ‘Razzle Dazzle’ says Shannon who is clearly using the old ‘mug/script’ technique.

The cops find a dead woman in the house, who has been killed by a sword. They get a few details and realise that Shannon’s character Brad was the killer and he’s slipped through their fingers. He hasn’t gone far however and had taken over an adjacent house and claims to have two hostages.

So begins a long stand off which lasts for the rest of the film. To keep us entertained we get plenty of flashbacks to show how Brad ended up killing the woman whom we learn was his mother, with the film’s title being her last words.

Brad has mental health issues and gets up to a variety of activities, some of which are presented apros po of nothing such as him standing in the middle of a rural Chinese market whilst we have a good look at the locals.

He also heads down to Tijuana and has a look at some ostriches and buys a pile of reading glasses which he states is his way of bringing heaven to earth. His long suffering girlfriend also takes him to a veterans' hospital, hoping that he’s going to check in. Sadly no, instead he buys up a load of pillows in the gift shop before later handing them off to a stranger.

Apart from the siege the other through line in the film is a Greek tragedy play that Shannon is initially the star of but from which he’s later ejected due to him being unpredictable and overbearing. The sword he uses in the play later ends up in his mother with his own tragedy being enacted.

As the siege draws to an end due to representations from his theatre director and girlfriend the hostages are freed. Will Brad get the help he needs?

This was a strange and self indulgent film with lots of long hard stares into the camera and shots that went on for an eternity. I know we were inhabiting Brad’s troubled mind but did we really need a full number from that mariachi band?

This film was made back to back with Herzog’s recently reviewed Bad Lieutenant and it comes across as them having some left over film so lets make some shit up. The director’s fascination with animals is seen once again with ostriches and flamingos having significant parts.

Shannon is excellent as the unhinged Brad but it’s not an enjoyable performance as the character is too out there and random. There was a lot of heavy duty acting going on and I could see everyone involved being in awe of the worthy and important work. For me though I need more entertainment than a lot of random scenes from a life stitched together with a low threat siege plot.

Maybe worth a look if there’s nothing else on but the urge to bale out is strong with this one!

When is Shannon-On? - 04.19

Outcome? Off to the nut house

Film 3/5

Shannon Stars 2/5