Don't Come Knocking
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Movie Reviews of Don't Come Knocking
Movie Review: ...
Summary: 4 Stars
Please don't buy this film based on the usual Sundance/Cannes credibility factor (unless you acknowledge that you are one of those types). Watch this film for what is really there: A touching and at times, funny film about decades of love lost and found. Butte, Montana provides the perfect backdrop for the majority of the film, capturing the colorful, awe-inspiring landscapes of the American west (as Wenders always has). The cast is top notch; Mann, Shepard and Polley deliver especially striking performances as father, son and daughter. Although not quite on the same level of greatness as Paris, texas, It's poignancy is undeniable. A great road film!Movie Review: Don't Come Knocking Captures Butte
Summary: 4 Stars
I was lucky enough to live in Butte, Montana in the 90s, and this film perfectly captures Butte. I enjoyed the film, not Wim Wenders very best, but it has its charms. I'm writing this for people who would like to see Butte and don't have a plane ticket in hand. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, and you feel like you really are there, Uptown, on the Richest Hill on Earth.Movie Review: "I just want to be related to someone,"
Summary: 3 Stars
Don't Come Knocking is such a visually beautiful film and it's also superbly acted by Sam Shepard and the formidable Jessica Lange - complete with plastic surgery - but dramatically the film is rather inert and ultimately suffers from a sort of portentous and stodgy directorial style, which hampers what could have been a very fine film.
Directed by Wim Wenders, Don't Come Knocking is Largely set in Montana, and the scenery is absolutely stunning. Often occupying more than half the screen, the sky is like a character in the movie, which has a bright, distinct and totally vibrant look and ends up being the most interesting character in the film.
The movie stars Sam Shepard as a washed-up aging movie star Howard Spence. We first meet him just as he's disappeared from the set of a western in which he is starring. A 60-year-old drug- and alcohol-abusing playboy, Howard heads for home in Elko, Nev., a place he hasn't been in 30 years. We aren't quite sure why he's going there, we can only assume that he's having some kind of mid-life crisis.
Of course, the film is left in turmoil, but Howard doesn't care, he's like a little boy who is off exploring and he's oblivious to the chaos that he's causing. A no-nonsense representative of the bond company who is insuring the movie Sutter (Tim Roth) swoops in by helicopter and begins tracking the badly behaved cowboy.
While in Elko, Howard's reunion with his elderly mother (Eva Marie Saint) is cut short by the revelation that he has a twenty something son from a one night stand on a film shoot in Butte, Montana, so off Howard goes, to reconnect with his past. Meanwhile, a young woman named Sky (Sarah Polley) arrives in Butte carrying an urn with her recently deceased mother's ashes. Howard and Sky intersect at the restaurant run by Howard's old flame, Doreen (Jessica Lange) who is rather amused that Howard has turned up after all these years.
At a nightclub he points out his son (Gabriel Mann), who has turned into a sort of moody musician Goth, and he's is not eager to embrace his new-found father. By far the most interesting person in the film is Doreen and kudos must go to Lange - who I still think is America's greatest living screen actress - as she brings Doreen's mixture of wistfulness and naughty giggling to life.
Don't Come Knocking suffers from being a bit in love with itself. True, the visual impact of the film is unarguable and the deserted streets of Butte look both stunning and haunted - nicely rendered by cinematographer Franz Lustig - deeply reflecting Wenders' own penchant for an American West etched with loneliness.
But the movie trundles along, almost grinding to a halt in the second act where it becomes mired in the mud of disconcerted family business, and the resolution is quite predicable. It's as though the story is desperately trying to work up enough momentum to go somewhere, but the film just never seems to budge.
Still, it's refreshing to see the talented Sam Shepard acting again - and playing a leading man, even though the character is a bit of a selfish oaf. And it's also a treat to see him acting with Lange, his wife. For Howard, life as a movie star has been one of irresponsibility and fun; fatherhood has been a mystery and when he confronts its reality, he is just as dumbstruck as he ever was.
It's far easier for the western loner to skip town and never look back, and Shepard does a fine job of bringing this almost childlike man to life with all his dysfunctions and insecurities, just an ordinary American man just yearning to connect. It's just a pity that Wenders couldn't find a way to tell Howard's story a bit more lucidly and with less pretentiousness. Mike Leonard August 06.
Movie Review: YOU CAN NEVER COME HOME
Summary: 3 Stars
Combining two renaissance men like Sam Shepard (THE RIGHT STUFF, 1983) and Wim Wenders (director of PARIS, TEXAS which also starred Shepard) could seem like a golden film opportunity. I'd heard quite a bit of buzz about DON'T COME KNOCKING before its release and was pretty excited to finally sit down and watch it.
The story is about Howard Spence (Shepard), a cowboy movie star who's approaching the downside of his aging career. At 60, Howard still lives the life of a starling; he drinks, drugs and sexes himself into oblivion nightly. But (for unknown reasons) he has a bad night on the set of a lame film and decides to flee the production in hopes of finding what lay for him beyond the camera. His history is as scattered as his drug-induced years of debauchery and Howard quickly discovers that he has children in the world. Two children. He visits his mother (Eva Marie Sant, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) in Elko, Nevada and she tells him of a woman who'd called years before claiming to be the mother of his son. At first Howard doesn't believe it, but recollections filter in and he goes in search of his kids. But he also has to evade a bounty hunter named Sutter (Tim Roth, PULP FICTION) who was hired by the film studio to get Howard back to the movie he'd abandoned.
Both of Howard's kids' are now adults living lives of their own. We're first introduced to Sky (Sarah Polley, DAWN OF THE DEAD, 2004) who just cremated her mother. She's a withdrawn and quiet woman who easily picks up on who her father is when she sees him lurking around Butte, Montana. The second adult kid is Earl (Gabriel Mann, THE BOURNE IDENTITY), a modern blues singer with a chip the size of a boulder resting on him. His mother, Doreen (Jessica Lange, ROB ROY), tries to ease the news of his father's arrival but is too late. Twenty years of fatherlessness flares, and Howard and he nearly come to blows.
As Howard tries to understand life (his own) he constantly gets knocked around. Those who carry his bloodline want nothing to do with him, indicating to Howard that he should simply return to the film set. When the bounty hunter catches up with him, it's little surprise that Howard puts up no resistance.
An alternate title for the film might've been "You Can Never Come Home" because that is its basic message. Although we're not privy to Howard's thoughts, we can assume that since he's coming to the end of his acting career and his life, he's looking for something meaningful to justify his existence. Of course, children are the ultimate justification, but when they reject you, what's left?
The color schemes and filming are visually stunning, but certain scene-to-scene edits were herky-jerky and some embittered relationships felt forced (most notably that of Howard and his son, Earl). Jessica Lange was flawless, though. She's such a fantastic actress. Sam Shepard did an "okay" job with an interesting script but I felt little (if any) emotional weight from his character.
A big problem with the film was that, on one definitive level, it's a Hollywood flick about Hollywood people. The self-importance of actors and actresses has never appealed to me and this might bother quite a few viewers. But tying it in with those of a shattered family dynamic made the movie easier to swallow.
Still, this is an interesting indie film that surpasses some of the trite junk currently gracing the silver screen.
Movie Review: Beautiful Landscapes and Music, with Incomprehensible Characters and Story
Summary: 3 Stars
Looking back from now, the career of Wim Wenders reached its highest point during the 1980s when he made two films - `Paris, Texas' and `Wings of Desire.' They are really not for everybody's taste, but still impressive enough to convince us that Wenders is one of the most gifted directors. Now, after some disappointing films like `End of Violence' and `Million Dollar Hotel,' Wenders returns with `Don't Come Knocking,' which is better than these two films, but still lacks the impact of the films he made 20 years ago.
`Don't Come Knocking' stars Sam Shepard as washed-out Western movie star Howard Spence, who, fed up with the life of women and booze, suddenly runs away from the set riding a horse, and travels back to his mother (Eva Marie Saint). Howard's mother reveals to her son that many years ago there was a call from a woman looking for Howard, who said she had his baby. Howard continues his journey to Butte, Montana, where he believes the mother and her child can be found.
Like in `Paris, Texas,' star Sam Shepard and Wim Wenders collaborated on the story, which is certainly thin, unoriginal, and often incredible, but at least more accessible than some of Wenders films. What is more attractive is the name of the cast, which includes Eva Marie Saint, Jessica Lange, Sarah Polley, Tim Roth, Gabriel Mann, and Fairuza Balk. They play the characters of the off-kilter world of Wenders - all slightly (or perhaps more) eccentric. While Sarah Polley's character Sky wanders in the streets of Butte holding an urn with her mother's ashes, saying a cryptic thing or two to Howard Spence, laconic Tim Roth, bondsman hired by the studio, never changes his inscrutable attitudes even when questioning about three ways of potato cooking.
All these sometimes incomprehensible actions of the characters are presented with Wenders' a little emotionally detached touch, which may or may not attract you. It is not that Wenders does not allow the actors (or characters) to be emotional. Rather, he is more interested in the vast, infinite landscape of America, not the emotionally charged images. Thankfully, the good performances of remarkable Sarah Polley and Jessica Lange make the film's character barely credible.
Still it must be said that for all the capable acting from the supports, the main character Howard is least satisfying, with miscast Shepard's one-note acting. The script makes several grave mistakes in making him the most unbelievable and a bit selfish person in the film. For example, can you believe young women gather around Howard, a washed-out has-been, and sleep with this charmless guy in bed? Do you run away from the film set riding a horse in the first place? Maybe it is Wenders' intention to represent his America with the figure of Howard, but I don't think this idea would work. At least, it didn't work for me.
The photography of Franz Lustig is wonderful, and sometimes its beauty of the landscape reaches surreal level. The film has also thrilling original music by T-Bone Burnett, but despite its oddly touching moments, `Don't Come Knocking' suffers from its own quirkiness. Probably die-hard Wenders fans would savor the quirky taste of the film, but others might find the film just pointless and the story implausible.