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Sam Shepard,
Jessica Lange,
Tim Roth,
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Wim Wenders
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: Sony Pictures
: 111 min.
: English
: French
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Director Wim Wenders and writer Sam Shepard, who collaborated on the award-winning film Paris, Texas, once again join forces for this dark drama of a man trying to turn over a new leaf late in life. Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) is a veteran actor who has been a popular Western star since the mid-'70s. Spence's onscreen image as a strong, principled lawman is a severe contrast to his life off the set, which has been dominated by drinking, drugs, and promiscuous womanizing. However, Spence has begun to find his hedonistic life a shallow existence, and one day, in the midst of filming his latest movie, he simply hops on his horse and rides away, eventually making his way to the small Nevada town where his mother lives. Mother (Eva Marie Saint) has little interest in seeing her wayward son after so many years, but she does share a recently discovered bit of information with him -- one of Spence's former girlfriends stopped by with word that she had given birth to his son years before. Spence borrows his father's old car and drives to Butte, MT, where he finds Doreen (Jessica Lange), the woman who was his lover years ago. Doreen runs a tavern where her son, Earl (Gabriel Mann), plays for the locals with his rock band; Spence is in fact Earl's father, but the young man has no interest in meeting his biological father, and shuts out Spence as the actor tries to get to know him. As Spence struggles to find some sort of familial connection in Butte, he makes friends with a young woman named Sky (Sarah Polley), only to discover she was also fathered by him during his rowdy younger days. Don't Come Knocking's distinguished supporting cast includes Tim Roth, George Kennedy, Fairuza Balk, Julia Sweeney, and Tim Matheson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
GreenCine Exclusive Interview
Writing in the New York Times, Stephen Holden described Don't Come Knocking as "a meditation on cultural ectoplasm, on phantom cowboys and outlaws and the potent myths surrounding them." With this latest film by Wim Wenders now out on DVD, Calvin Souther and Jonathan Marlow talk with the legendary German director about writing on the road, meeting Patricia Highsmith and the benefits of working under pressure. Full article >>
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| Shepard, Coasting
by talltale
August 12, 2006 - 5:51 PM PDT
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2 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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As a writer Sam Shepard continues to coast along, tossing out to us variations on the same tired themes he's been diddling with for decades. In DON'T COME KNOCKING he does it again, with even less success than usual. Aging cowboy actor has an epiphany (which, of course, leaves everyone else in the lurch) and goes searching for roots which lead to offspring and a whole bunch of hugely emotional scenes between him, his ex-lady and newfound kids. He gives actors like Jessica Lange, Gabriel Mann, Fairuza Balk and himself a load of angry/unhappy confrontations in which they can emote to beat the band. And god knows, they do.
Unfortunately, he has written the kind of characters whose reality begins at the beginning of a scene and ends at the end of it. Try imagining these people before or after any of their big to-dos and you'll understand how paltry they are as characters. The actors do a fine in-the-moment job but, interestingly, it's Shepard--always a good less-is-more guy--who comes off best, as do Sarah Polley and Eva Marie Saint, who can also do lots with little.
Director Wim Wenders is clearly taken with some aspects of America (as he was similarly with his and Shepard's "Paris, Texas"), and these seem to fit into this hugely constricted vision. I prefer Wenders in his "Wings of Desire"/"Million Dollar Hotel" mode(s), but if you are a fan of this kind of "loner drivel," by all means, give it a shot. The photography is aces, and the film begins with one of the most charming/pretty bits of landscape legerdemain that I've seen in awhile. It's a gorgeous opening, at least. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 5.94)
18 Votes
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