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Don't Come Knocking
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Starring: Sam Shepard
Genre:
Drama/Independent
Run Time: 122 min.
Release Date: March
2006
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
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 She's a withdrawn and quiet woman who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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Image from Don't Come
Knocking
DVD cost: $14.99
Purchase:
BestPrices.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The picture of Sky's
mother is a photograph of Sara Polley's own mother, the late actress
Diane Polley. She died in 1990 and was a huge fan of Sam Shepard.
Movie Quote: "What
kind of trouble are you in, Howard?"
Other Actors/Actresses
from Don't Come Knocking
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