Review of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) by Daniel Q — 17 Sep 2010

The movie is so incredibly bizarre that I don't even know how to go about reviewing it!

The Good:

When you think of something positive to say about the latest Herzog effort, the word "originality" just pops up all over the place! I'll tell you right now, you more then likely have NEVER seen a movie like this one! The best way I can describe it is by imagining that director Wes Anderson looses his mind, has a nightmare and decides to make a film about it. The reason I say Wes Anderson, is because the movies attention to detail is it's strongest and most coherent point! There is allot of dead pan humor (That your not even sure if it is meant to be funny).

The cast was the next best thing the film had to offer! If you enjoy movies where characters descend into madness, then you should definitely watch this film ASAP! Michael Shannon is truly an incredible actor! There is this eeriness about him that is both haunting, and mesmerizing! The rest of the cast shines as well and really bring this odd story to life.

The movie is REALLY funny at times! The humor is definitely an acquired taste and won't appeal to all, but if it's up your alley then you WILL laugh hard! I would classify this a dark comedy of sorts. That of course being the closest genre I can relate it to because truthfully I'm not even sure if you can consider this a movie!

The Bad:

Incoherence, incoherence, incoherence! To it's credit, the movie spends allot of time tying things together and attempting at coherence on some levels. Also, the point of the film is to make you see the world as our crazy lead see's it. Nothing really makes any sense but at the same time, nothing is truly random. Given all of that, it's still way to out there and makes you look at the screen in embarrassment at times. It's sad that they couldn't patch up more of the story line because the movie had lots of potential!

Overall:

As eerily strange as anything you will ever see, Werner Herzog's latest is original, well acted, and funny. Sadly, it has little to offer in the way of coherence and if you don't like dark, dead pan comedy, or find the source material intriguing, you will find little to like here. SEE. IT.