My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done – DVD Review

The Film:

Just like the ostrich who steals Udo Kier’s eye glasses, Herzog’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is a weird bird. But what else should we have expected from a Werner Herzog and David Lynch collaboration, with a cast a cult stars? While Lynch hardly had much influence of the creation of the film, other than to help Herzog with this DIY film, he’s unmistakeably everywhere in the film: from the actors, to the humor, to the oddities, Lynch is here. But so is Herzog.

The way the film starts with the conventional layout of the cop genre, only to fold itself into unconventional format is interesting, as evident with the back seat the stakeout takes, as Herzog is focused on the madness of our lead, Brad McCullum (Michael Shannon). Razzle Dazzle. There two scenes where the actor’s actions just stop and they remain still for like a minute as if Herzog switched to a freeze frame. Like the companion film, in terms of genre Bad Lieutenant, Herzog seems bored with how genres have structure, and he is ready to buckle it, even if it makes no sense. But does madness make sense? No, and so Herzog is off the hook here with this experiment.

My Son, My Son reveals levels of Brad’s madness, as this is based on a true story of a man who just one day stabbed his mother with a sword, killing her, after seeing God in a Quaker box and music. If anything, all of this is old news now days, with the God alibi and mental issues. We seen it before, in life and in film. Brad’s loving, but irritating relationship with his mother, is reminiscent of Norman Bates’ in Psycho. Micheal Shannon is creepy, odd, and typically as good as he always is, in a a bizarre film that mixes INLAND EMPIRE and Bad Lieutenant. Look beyond what you expect from a cop-investigation-thriller, into the eyes of Shannon. Madness shouldn’t be so easily defined, and while it doesn’t always click, Herzog’s My Son, My Son isn’t easily defined as well. Razzle Dazzle.

The DVD:

The Audio/Video: Released from First Look Studios, the disc should be a good looking DVD since Herzog shot the film on the RED camera, but I was giving a screener copy of the disc, so I have a watermark at the bottom of the screen saying “Property of First Look Studios/Industrial Entertainment Sales Screener Only” so I can’t faithfully review it until I see the finalized version. Same with the audio.

The extras weren’t included either on my copy, which is a shame since it’ll have a Commentary by Herzog, Interviews with the cast, and Ramin Bahrani’s short film The Plastic Bag. I did, however, have two forced trailers for this film and another First Look Studios release.

Conclusion:

The Film: Rating:

The DVD: N/A