It’s a story of crime inspired by a real crime story. A young man does something terrible one morning in suburbia – in the hostage situation that follows, the police and the young man’s friends struggle to understand his actions.
That could be the plot of some witheringly tired corporate product – yet look at the cast of My Son My Son What Have Ye Done:
Wilem Dafoe as Detective Hank Havenhurst. Chloë Sevigny as Ingrid. Udo Kier as Lee Meyers. Verne Troyer as ‘midget’. Brad Dourif as Uncle Ted. Grace Zabriskie as Mrs. McCullum and Michael Shannon as her son Brad.
Yes that’s right, it’s a Werner Herzog film produced by David Lynch. Thank god – just when I was losing my faith in cinema yet again after screening yet again another corporate offering.
My Son takes place in a world parallel to ours – a world where there is no mental illness – or more accurately, where mental illness has yet to be discovered; mental illness and possibly psychology itself.
If this was a film striving for surface realism instead of the inner dark heart of things it would be clear right from the start that the young man, Michael Shannon’s Brad McCullum, is mentally ill – but in this world, (of magic? where nature is still untamed? where magic and nature are inseparable), the police, Brad’s girlfriend and his associates struggle to understand the nature of nature’s malfunction.
It’s extraordinary in this way – and it makes sense that Werner Herzog runs a film school – what a wonderful exercise – to alter just one element of our world, (in this case the aforementioned non-discovery of psychology), to create a new filmic reality. One can imagine more films along these lines – with plots that take place in a world where where there never was a Magna Carta, or to go more deeply as in My Son, a reality where there is only one sex, or the ‘denial of death’ was not a wellspring for creativity, etc.
In this ‘alter-reality’ way My Son is a parallel world flick, (what would happen if Hitler had never been born, etc.), and therefore is the finest science fiction film I’ve seen in years. And not just history of the world is different in My Son – with all due respect to James Cameron’s extraordinary work on Avatar, nothing on Pandora is as mesmerizing, strange or otherworldly as Mrs. McCullum’s front lawn as seen in this pic.
Now if the above doesn’t appeal to you I’d suggest it’s worth watching just for what I’ll call the ‘Willem Dafoe Coffee Conversation’; I won’t say more – that would just spoil it. Dafoe is wonderful in the scene and in the film – as is Michael Shannon, Grace Zabriskie, Brad Dourif and the great Irma P. Hall, (are her actions morally correct in Bad Lieutenant? You decide).
My Son My Son What Have Ye Done is a superb film – and due to it I’ve once again fallen in love with the movies after having to suffer this over the weekend. Thank you Werner and thank you to everyone involved. Onward cinema, onward!
My Son starts tomorrow at the always necessary Belcourt Theatre here in Music City – if you can’t see it here screen it anyway you can.
Wow.. I must see this film! Sounds absolutely amazing!
You know, it is kind of amazing. I'm so glad Herzog is out there making pictures!
Great review! I was lucky enough to see this movie at the Toronto Film Festival and I still can't get it out of my head. It is like nothing I've ever seen before. Werner Herzog has created a masterpiece.
Really interesting post! I also can't wait to see this movie. It hasn't made its way to my neck of the woods yet. Enjoy Nashville-area fans :)
thanks for the headzup, Jett. myself and my better half were wondering what was on at the Belcourt as we were wanting to take in a movie there while i'm in town. and now we know. this sounds very intriguing.
stay warm.
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hey jett,
so. we appreciated the review because it got us to go see it. we enjoyed the experience. grace zabriskie, was, as always, superbly excruciating – the best i've ever seen her. and i was delighted to see brad dourif. i think i'll like the movie more the more i think about it.
we thought your reading of the film as a psychology free alter-reality worked for the most part save for one moment, late in the movie, that we now have a question about:
how do you understand Ingrid's line (that ran something like),”he wanted to go to the naval hospital and i was relieved because i thought he'd get treatment for his depression…”?
there were moments that were reminiscent of twin peaks and yet on initial reflection that was curious because i'm provisionally wondering if it was almost the opposite of lynch. rather than the conscious/unconscious divide being blurred, in My Son only Brad seems connected to his unconscious. his behaviour is read by others without insight to his inner world, or indeed their own. i listened carefully (based on your preview) for any language that spoke to the psychological or psychoanalytic or any understanding of the impact of the unconscious on behaviour. bar Ingrid's reference to depression, there appeared to be none, save for brad's lines. everything was read at a superficial, or immediate, conscious level.
so, yep, what are we to make of that depression reference? would love to know your thoughts.
Hey there – maybe i'm misunderstanding what you're saying re:
“listened carefully (based on your preview) for any language that spoke to the psychological or psychoanalytic or any understanding of the impact of the unconscious on behaviour. bar Ingrid's reference to depression, there appeared to be none, save for brad's lines. everything was read at a superficial, or immediate, conscious level”
that was one of my points – maybe you just made it a lot clearer than me? ;) that this was a world in which psychology didn't exist or the field of psychology hadn't been created as a tool for understanding our actions – only nature exists in this film and as such Brad's actions are mystifying to the other characters in the film – whereas in our world it would be clear based upon what was described in the pic that Brad was suffering from a mental illness.
ah. okay. i think i now see our confusion:
we assumed that in a world in which psychology didn't exist neither would the term, 'depression'. but, 'if only nature exists' in that world i can see how she might simply be referring to a general malaise rather than indicating psychological understanding. in other words, we were hearing the term depression from within our world and assuming she meant the same level of knowledge or understanding we would if using the word.
i can sleep now. ;)
Cheers OneLittleBird – you see where i'm trying to get to – but you know i'm learning as i go and please feel free to disagree with me anytime! :)
we loved your reading of the film and it very much enhanced the experience.
keep up the good work. :)
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