Review of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) by Miguel A — 06 Aug 2011

There's hell enough on Michael Shannon's face to warrant spiritual arrest. The crossroads of "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" will tangle Herzog fans for miles beyond the rest of the movie's credit. But throughout, Shannon, knocked up with the twisted mind of Brad McCullum -- who's just strung out his mother (Grace Zabriskie) with a sword, and holed himself up inside her house -- always stays a highlight of the Lynch-trained eye. His pair fly off his head in ways no 3D could contain. Still, though a minor achievement which few will actually see, be warned of the social calamity expectedly cooked up by the producer David Lynch and writer-director Werner Herzog, dreamy druggies in constant state of pretentious breakfast, frying pan handle purportedly turned the wrong axis on the burner.

Where were we again? So Brad's chained to his mum's residence, while outside Detective Hank Havenhurst (Willem Dafoe wiled in character confusion) busies himself conversing with the dude's fiance Ingrid (Chloe Sevigny, the art misses you) and drama director Lee Meyers (Udo Kier) as they both recall the past lives of Brad. Ingrid just watched in horror; but Meyers brought a troupe to feed Brad's fantasy -- he thinks he's in a Sophocles play in which slaying his protective procreator is the final act.

"My Son, My Son" has glimpses of classic Herzog, mystified with the seemingly normal, like when the camera follows down asphalt a Quaker Oats oatmeal can printed on which is a photo of the namesake Brad's convinced is the face of God. It goes that buggy. Shots that could've been cut linger for twenty-seconds on end. The great gal Sevigny is wasted. And, a first for either Lynch or Herzog, real-life authority is let to kill the melodramatic buzz. Their canvas sizzles but the flame gets contained. Not bona fide. Shannon's the one to sprawl, fighting Herzog to claim the ghostly allegory for his evil own. Watch Brad become his own undoubted religion, the very soul of Greek Broadway. His performance goal is met.