My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009)

Inspired by a true crime, a man begins to experience mystifying events that lead him to slay his mother with a sword.

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Herbert Golder, Werner Herzog

Stars:

Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, Chloë Sevigny

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Shannon	...	Brad Macallam
Willem Dafoe	...	Detective Havenhurst
Chloë Sevigny	...	Ingrid Gudmundson
Udo Kier	...	Lee Meyers
Michael Peña	...	Detective Vargas
Grace Zabriskie	...	Mrs Macallam
Brad Dourif	...	Uncle Ted
Irma P. Hall	...	Mrs Roberts (as Irma Hall)
Loretta Devine	...	Ms Roberts
Candice Coke	...	Officer Slocum
Gabriel Pimentel	...	Little Man
Braden Lynch	...	Gary
James C. Burns	...	Brown
Noel Arthur	...	Naval Guard
Julius Morck	...	Phil (as Julius Mørck)

Storyline

The police are called to a murder scene and quickly discover that the murderer, the victim's son, is holed up in his house with two hostages. Through a series of interviews with both the murderer's fiancée and his theatre director the police piece together a picture of a man losing touch with reality.

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Plot Keywords:

police | sword | hostage | murder | surrealism | 

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Taglines:

The Mystery Isn't Who. But Why.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 July 2010 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Dans l'oeil d'un tueur

Filming Locations:

San Diego Convention Center - 111 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Defilm, Industrial Entertainment, Paper Street Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's official screening at the 2009 Venice Film Festival took place on Werner Herzog's 67th birthday.

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Goofs

In the escalator scene, which takes place in Calgary but which was filmed at the San Diego Convention Center, one can clearly see a row of palm trees outside.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Detective Vargas: Do you want me to take the wheel Hank?
Detective Hank Havenhurst: No, no - it's no problem. I've driven halfway across the country with one hand.

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Connections

Referenced in Was ich bin sind meine Filme - Teil 2... nach 30 Jahren (2010)

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Soundtracks

Tunnel of Time
Written by Ernst Reijseger
Performed by The Ernst Reijseger Ensemble

User Reviews

Herzog's Masterpiece

On the DVD for Herzog's film The Wild Blue Yonder there is an interview with Brad Dourif (the star in that film and the guy who plays the uncle in this one) and for some reason he mentions the script for this movie saying it was unmade but brilliant. So true, this film is absolutely brilliant, Herzog destroys conventional filmmaking with this, within the first five minutes you know everything that any other film would take 2 hours revealing.

Then after that, after the five minute mark pure Herzog madness sets in and its beautiful. Also as for the Lynch association, the movie starts with David Lynch Presents that was just Lynch offering his name for selling power. He was never on set once and Herzog only referenced him once when Brad is walking around a hotel and sees a man with a breathing device walking on a treadmill.

I have always been convinced that Herzog is a great documentary filmmaker (although he refuses to call his documentaries documentaries) but with this he has proved himself fully capable to me as a narrative director. This film is extremely strange but in a good way, sometimes you see strange films that are just odd for attention. The film is distorted and strange but it is meant to represent the main characters mind and its insanity in full.

You'll either be on board with this movie or you won't be but I think everyone should give this film a chance.