Review of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) by Bryan W — 06 Sep 2010

If experience has taught me one thing, it's that Werner Herzog does not know how to direct a horror film.

The sad part about this is, I wouldn't have even known it was supposed to be a horror film if I hadn't read Herzog's statement about its alleged status as such, though 'without the blood, chainsaws and gore'.

The first enormous failure here appears to stem from the collaboration between the two highly-touted auteurs trumpeted on the poster. Though Lynch likely did not inform the creative process, since he was not involved in writing or directing, his involvement appears to have had an effect. Namely, it looks like a film student watched too many Lynch movies and tried to make their own, proving, in effect, that Lynch movies are called that for a reason.

This is mostly obvious in the film's humor, which borders on parody and is rarely funny, and the film's tension, of which there is none. Awkward sequences where characters stare at the camera seem to be the order of the day, making what Herzog attempted to explain as an 'anonymous fear' look like the kind of fourth wall breaking that would unsettle film goers in 1931.

Worse than this, most of the film is boring, and the flashbacks that are supposed to enhance the reasoning for the hostage situation at the film's start explain very little that wouldn't be obvious via context. In effect, Herzog trivializes what might have been an interesting true story, pissing away a scant run-time with anemic performances that, again, border on a parody of Lynch's films.

When the directing doesn't slog the film through the mud, it almost works in a few places. The actors, all obviously talented, still manage to bring something to many of their scenes, but suffer greatly when they're reduced to sitting down and talking to someone else.

Overall, it's not worth seeing, and hopefully will serve as a warning to filmmakers who see fit to pool their differential talents.