Review of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) by Stefano C — 02 Sep 2011
From director Werner Herzog and produced by David Lynch, this is a weird and unsettling murder mystery. It has a good ensemble, and this is perfect material for Herzog, and it does make a good companion piece to his previous film, Bad Lieutenant (2009).
In San Diego, Detective Havenhurst (Willem Dafoe) driving with his partner Detective Vargas (Michael Peña) are called to the scene of the murder of Mrs. McCullum (Grace Zabriskie). It turns out her son Brad McCullum (Michael Shannon) stabbed her with an antique sword, and now Brad is holed up in his own house, claiming he has hostages.
But, Havenhurst is intrigued to know why McCullum has been driven to do something like this. After speaking to his fiancee Ingrid (Chloë Sevigny) and his drama tutor and mentor Lee Meyers (Udo Kier), it turns out McCullum has never been right since a trip he took to Peru on a kayaking trip, and how McCullum's Uncle Ted (Brad Dourif) played a big part (albiet unknowing) in this crime.
Nothing is what it seems, McCullum seemed normal before this, why the change?? It's a very odd and weird film, but it's what you'd expect from Herzog, Shannon gives an intense and disturbing performance, plus the Peru locations were used by Herzog in Aguirre: Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo.
This review of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) was written by Stefano C on 02 Sep 2011.
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done has generally received mixed reviews.
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