Werner Herzog: greatest living director?

[Johann]

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done


This film is a 2009 collaboration between two Kings of Cinema: Werner Herzog and David Lynch. A match made in heaven? Yes.


It's as strange and bizarre as you'd expect from such a team-up. Michael Shannon plays Brad Macallam, a man with serious problems.
The title of the film comes from what his mother says to him after he runs her through with a sword. The plot is mercurial, hard to get a handle on. (Very David Lynch). Willem Dafoe and Michael Pena are detectives assigned to negotiate with Brad, who is holed up in his house- a strange house with cactuses dotting the entire front, and he has pet pink flamingoes. Chloe Sevigny (wonderful actress- I love her) plays his fiance who helps the police.

Michael Shannon is a very fine actor, and he has some intense scenes here- see the scene between him and Chloe as "Ingrid" where he gets angry and repeats "So What?!"...wowza. Udo Kier also plays a role, assisting the police as he taught Brad at a theatre group, where he insisted on rehearsing with a real sword for a play. This film is difficult to describe, although it can be described as esoteric, artistic and AWESOME. I loved every minute- even from the gorgeous opening scene. The camerawork is sublime, with nice filters, by Ace cameraman and Herzog partner Peter Zeitlinger. The soundtrack is amazing, and the scene where he plays a Christian country song was sublime to me. See it at all costs. Filmed in San Diego, Los Angeles, China, Mexico and Peru, with STUNNING cinematography- no joke, you cannot complain about the visuals.Two giants of cinema COLLIDE....