My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Friday, December 11, 2009) (190)

Because he's a mad genius and because Bad Lieutenant- Port of Call: New Orleans wasn't a long enough title for him, Werner Herzog made another movie this year - My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. The film looks like it was shot in a long weekend - on digital video - with a small, but impressive cast and a small story. Curiously, though, there are also scenes shot on location in Peru and Western China. This is not a great film - but it is very interesting and falls in line directly with Herzog's greater oeuvre.

The brilliant Michael Shannon plays a deranged man in San Diego who, in a fit of madness, kills his mother with a samurai sword. Based on a true story, the film follows the policeman, played by Willem Dafoe who is trying to piece together the background story by interviewing the man's fiance, played by Chloë Sevigny, and theater director, played by Udo Kier. We see that the man was never totally normal and was always prone to wild ravings and delusional visions.

Considering the digital look to the film, the cinematography by frequent Herzog collaborator Peter Zeitlinger is quite beautiful. He does a lovely job showing ordinary things (like a railroad car in the opening sequence, or a basketball in a tree on the side of a freeway in the closing shot) in a washed-out style, so our view is almost the same as that of the crazy protagonist. Herzog also does a beautiful job of cutting from the present to the flash-backs as people tell their stories. Some of these scenes are beautifully constructed and choreographed from elements in three points in time.

One effect that Herzog uses that looks smart, but is not totally effective is at certain points he has the actors pause mid-scene motionless, while the camera continues to roll for 10-15 seconds. This is not a freeze-frame, per se, though it has the same general look. It looks constructed as you can see the actors slightly twitching or breathing. The only way I could figure to understand this, is that it is how the madman sees the world - at times moments pause before his eyes. It's a camp element that didn't totally work for me. The score by Ernst Reijseger is also a bit too heavy-handed.

I have a never-ending amount of respect for Werner Herzog. I think he's one of the smartest filmmakers - if the the smartest - living today. That is to say he is smart in terms of general knowledge of the world and also in terms of cinematic style and history. He seems to make a few movies every year, documentaries and narrative films, and each one deals with some human element - but mostly about insanity and general loss of control. This film might be a smaller work - like a smaller, less interesting painting by Picasso - but it does tie into his greater body of film about madness and obsession.

Stars: 1.5 of 4