Diagonaldi Very well executed

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Bereamic Awesome Movie

g-moff The movie is about a guy - Brad McCullam - who killed his mother with a sword while she was having coffee in a neighbours' house. There are witnesses, very soon after the murder police appears and the chief investigator Havenhurst (William Dafoe) tries to find out the motives while the murderer seems to keep two hostages in his house across the street. The whole movie feels very calm, very un-tense the whole time. No dramatic "swat" action (although a "swat" team appears), no drastic violence scenes, no last-minute-twist etc. So it might not be the appropriate feed for the usual car-chase-loving-crowd. But it's worth watching imho. We see Havenhurst investigating, he appears to be an experienced, sovereign cop. He talks to the murderers' fiancée and another of his acquaintances. In several flashbacks we find out that McCullam had an intense, possibly morbid relation to his mother. He also started to act disconcerting after a trip to Peru where he saw all his fellow travellers dying in a river. With Havenhurst we realize step by step that Macallums increasingly obvious-odd disturbances were never reported to a doctor or anyone else who could've handled his problems professionally. Even shortly before the murder, when McCullam begs two neighbours to hit him with a baseball bat before he 'will do it', nothing happens. No one interferes. So he gets arrested and that is nearly the end of the movie. There is no moral judgement. His fiancée and others might've prevented the murder, their 'good intentions' kept them from it. Also, McCullam might've tried to prevent his Peru travel mates from going on their fateful rafting voyage, but he didn't. Although 'god' told him not to join them. The whole movie is presented in a semi-documentary style which fits to Herzog who has shot several documentaries in his career. Additionally it fits to the fact that this story is based on a similar murder case. The score is excellent. Summary: a life gone wrong. Some close bystanders might've seen it coming, though.

WakenPayne Another film from a director that is considered great. I personally think he's overrated but I managed to sit through his collaboration with David Lynch. I personally thought it was a decent movie and nothing more.Told mostly in flashback, this movie tries to bring together the reason why a man murdered his mother and holds 2 people hostage in his house. From his mental instabilities to his obsession over a Greek play this is what My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done asks.Where do I begin, firstly, if you are not interested in what drove the leading character to kill his mother then the chances are that you are not going to like this movie. I am just mentioning that just in case you feel like watching it.Aside from that everything else is good. The acting though is worth a mention. It is good acting, Michael Shannon does play a great crazy man. Everyone else is good but at the end of the day it is Shannon's show.So if you want to see this kind of movie then this is for you. If you are also a fan of Werner Herzog (or at least know what to expect from one of his movies) then this one is worth a look.

MartinHafer In many ways, this film reminds me of the Claude Chabrol film "L'enfer"--though I think the Chabrol film was superior because it was much more subtle. In both films, the leading man would be diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. But, in "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done", it seems much, much more obvious. Now I am not saying WIlliam Shannon did a bad job in the film playing this disturbed man--it was a lovely performance of a madman. I just think I liked the more subtle leading man, as often someone with this disorder appears pretty normal (though they can be like Shannon's character as well). My advice--see both films.The movie begins with two detectives (one is Willem Defoe) being called to a murder scene. A woman has been stabbed repeatedly with a sword--and obviously this is no ordinary murder. Folks at the scene identify the son (Shannon) as the killer. Soon, Shannon announces that he's got hostages inside the house and the police are forced to wait. In the meantime, the man's fiancé and leader of an acting troupe both talk with the police--giving their insights through flashbacks. All this is very interesting but I had one problem--the guy they were talking about was clearly insane and had been that way for some time. There were TONS of signs he wasn't right--but both these folks acted surprised when they heard he'd killed and felt it was not possible!! Huh?! I think these two characters could have been handled better. I read on IMDb that this is based on a real story. And, if that's true and the man's friends saw he was THIS sick and did nothing, then THAT is truly shocking. All in all a good film (except for the god-awful score)--with the sort of weirdness you'd expect from a David Lynch production and the quality direction of Werner Herzog. Worth seeing.By the way, although he's only in a small portion of the movie, the uncle (Brad Dourif) is entertaining. Also, note the interesting story parallels inserted into the film such as the Greek chorus and play and in one scene as the cops approach with their arms outstretched, its an interesting allusion to Christ--as the killer was religiously obsessed and was talking about Jesus at the time.

rael I'm pleasantly surprised by the movie thanks to people's negative comments. Good acting, good rhythm, the dialog doesn't knock you out of the mood that the film has going. Willem Dafoe and Chloe Sevigny are especially comfortable in this one. Didn't like the ending. But that's always the case with arty movies about something vague. For the most part the thing was not pretentious. Art-house viewers keep expecting that legendary moment of cinematic epiphany to hit them. And it never does. I mean it's a movie about acting, directing and pretty landscapes. Maybe the disappointed viewers wanted a smart SWAT thriller or something.