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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Related . . ., August 14, 2006
This movie is for Wim Wenders fans and a little less so for moviegoers who love breath-taking images of the American West, with an ironic sense of how the real- and movie-West often contradict each other. Most of the film's themes come together in the character of Howard Spence (Sam Shepard), a man from a ranch in Nevada who's also had a career as a cowboy movie star. His playboy carelessness (drugs, alcohol, affairs, children he's fathered and doesn't know of) is a match for the reckless abuse of the land itself, the John Ford-like setting of southern Utah where his current movie is being shot contrasting with the unreal glitter of gambling casinos in Elko and the devastated city of Butte, where the vast open pit of what was once the Anaconda copper mine is now filling with toxic ground water.
For viewers a little puzzled by this rather loosely constructed and long-winded film, the DVD commentary by Wenders is a richly informative discussion of his intentions with the film along with anecdotes about making it (scenes created on the spot, the influence of painter Edward Hopper, also the story behind the final image of the film). Wenders' explanation of how he and Shepard wrote the film together and made it over a period of five years do much to account for its somewhat rambling structure.
The performances by the seasoned actors are great, including Jessica Lange (who would have remained far more beautiful and expressive without a facelift) flying into an unexpected rage in her last scene with a stunned Shepard and actually dislocating her shoulder as she hits him with a big handbag. However, it was harder for this viewer to wax as enthusiastic as Wenders about his younger actors, who seemed often vague about who and what they were supposed to be.
Shepard's usual themes are here - about family relationships and the dislocations between fathers and their children. The theatricality of his imagination comes through in long monologues and a funeral urn as an unfortunate stage prop. But Sam himself is wonderful to watch in this his own creation, and you hang on to the end waiting for the illumination that his playwright's mind is seeking in its journey across interior and exterior landscapes.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
YOU CAN NEVER COME HOME, August 18, 2006
Combining two renaissance men like Sam Shepard (THE RIGHT STUFF, 1983) and Wim Wenders (director of PARIS, TEXAS which also starred Shepard) could seem like a golden film opportunity. I'd heard quite a bit of buzz about DON'T COME KNOCKING before its release and was pretty excited to finally sit down and watch it.
The story is about Howard Spence (Shepard), a cowboy movie star who's approaching the downside of his aging career. At 60, Howard still lives the life of a starling; he drinks, drugs and sexes himself into oblivion nightly. But (for unknown reasons) he has a bad night on the set of a lame film and decides to flee the production in hopes of finding what lay for him beyond the camera. His history is as scattered as his drug-induced years of debauchery and Howard quickly discovers that he has children in the world. Two children. He visits his mother (Eva Marie Sant, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) in Elko, Nevada and she tells him of a woman who'd called years before claiming to be the mother of his son. At first Howard doesn't believe it, but recollections filter in and he goes in search of his kids. But he also has to evade a bounty hunter named Sutter (Tim Roth, PULP FICTION) who was hired by the film studio to get Howard back to the movie he'd abandoned.
Both of Howard's kids' are now adults living lives of their own. We're first introduced to Sky (Sarah Polley, DAWN OF THE DEAD, 2004) who just cremated her mother. She's a withdrawn and quiet woman who easily picks up on who her father is when she sees him lurking around Butte, Montana. The second adult kid is Earl (Gabriel Mann, THE BOURNE IDENTITY), a modern blues singer with a chip the size of a boulder resting on him. His mother, Doreen (Jessica Lange, ROB ROY), tries to ease the news of his father's arrival but is too late. Twenty years of fatherlessness flares, and Howard and he nearly come to blows.
As Howard tries to understand life (his own) he constantly gets knocked around. Those who carry his bloodline want nothing to do with him, indicating to Howard that he should simply return to the film set. When the bounty hunter catches up with him, it's little surprise that Howard puts up no resistance.
An alternate title for the film might've been "You Can Never Come Home" because that is its basic message. Although we're not privy to Howard's thoughts, we can assume that since he's coming to the end of his acting career and his life, he's looking for something meaningful to justify his existence. Of course, children are the ultimate justification, but when they reject you, what's left?
The color schemes and filming are visually stunning, but certain scene-to-scene edits were herky-jerky and some embittered relationships felt forced (most notably that of Howard and his son, Earl). Jessica Lange was flawless, though. She's such a fantastic actress. Sam Shepard did an "okay" job with an interesting script but I felt little (if any) emotional weight from his character.
A big problem with the film was that, on one definitive level, it's a Hollywood flick about Hollywood people. The self-importance of actors and actresses has never appealed to me and this might bother quite a few viewers. But tying it in with those of a shattered family dynamic made the movie easier to swallow.
Still, this is an interesting indie film that surpasses some of the trite junk currently gracing the silver screen.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Keep On "Knocking", December 30, 2006
"Don't Come Knocking" was something of an unexpected treat for me. I remember when the film opened in Chicago, and the awful reviews it got and the lack of public support, but I wanted to see it anyway. And before you knew it, it was out of theatres.
It's been a strage year for movies. I've found many times I'm on the outside of public opinion. I actually liked "All the King's Men" and I even liked "The Black Dahlia". I'm just not influenced by public opinion. I like what I like and the masses aren't going to change my mind.
"Don't Come Knocking" is the kind of film I love to watch. It's a self-discovery road picture. Going back to Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries", "The Browning Version" and even the more recent "About Schmidt" these kinds of films appeal to me.
The reason is because I find the topic universal. We all have regrets in our lives. We all wish at times that we can go back in time and rectify past situations. Now with some wisdom on our side perhaps we would respond to problems differently.
In "Don't Come Knocking" Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) is going through such a moment in his life. He was once a famous actor in westerns who is now a washed up has-been who gets by on memories of the past.
While on the set of his lastest film, a truly corny cliche western film, where characters kiss and then ride off into the sunset (!), Howard decides to pick up and leave. He sneaks off the set and makes his way back home.
Howard decides to go visit his mother (Eva Marie Saint) whom he hasn't seen for thirty years. It is there he learns he has a child. From who he doesn't know. How old the child is, he also doesn't know. His mother just casually blurted it out.
So from one family reunion to another Howard sets out to find the family he never knew about.
It turns out the woman was Doreen (Jessica Lange) and they had a son, Earl (Gabriel Mann). But there's also a stranger (Sarah Polley) who has come to town to find a resting place for her mother's ashes.
The film was directed by Wim Wenders and written by Sam Shepard. The two worked together on "Paris, Texas" and many see this film as a sequel. Because of that, most critics damned the movie because it wasn't "Paris, Texas".
I'm actually not very familar with Wenders' work. I've only seen "The End of Violence", "Buena Vista Social Club" and "Beyond the Clouds" (he co-directed the film with the great Antonioni). Wenders though is probably best known for the film "Wings of Desire" with was remade as "City of Angels" with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan.
But perhaps my youth and inexperience in Wenders work is what saved me. I can't compare the film to his others. I didn't walk in with high expectations. I let the story move at its own pace and carry me along. Because of this the film managed to catch me off guard and really speak to me. It's one of the best films of 2006 and no one saw it.
Bottom-line: This Wim Wenders film is one of the best of the year! A wonderful journey look at how if we are given a second chance in life we can correct our mistakes.
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