DVD available at Amazon.com
Director:
Wim Wenders
Cast:
Sam Shepard……….Howard Spence
Jessica Lange……….Doreen
Gabriel Mann……….Earl
Sarah Polley……….Sky
Fairuza Balk……….Amber
Tim Roth……….Sutter
Eva Marie Saint……….Howard’s Mother
Sony Pictures Classics presents Don’t Come Knocking. Written by Sam Shepard. Story by Shepard and Wim Wenders. Photographed by Franz Lustig. Running time: 111 minutes. Rated R (for language and brief nudity). DVD release date: August 8, 2006. MSRP: $24.96.
Howard Spence (Sam Shepard), having been a once-great Western star, has disappeared into a life of booze, coke and scandal. World-weary, oftentimes drunk, Howard has grown tired of the scenery, the call times to show up and perform, just the monotony of it all. Seeking solace, he bolts leaving the production still in full costume as he rides away on a horse. But this ride isn’t into the sunset; it’s merely the beginning.
Somebody should have given Howard Spence some career advice. Once-great stars shouldn’t be regulated to turning out carbon copies of their past successes. Go the independent route. Use your past acclaim and become an iconic presence. Shepard may look like a has-been, when, actually, his Howard Spence is his own interpretation of Western myth in modern day settings.
Walking away from his latest paycheck, he calls the mother he hasn’t seen in 30 years (Eva Marie Saint), and goes to see her in Nevada. His arrival is genuine, as Saint is concerned for her boy and wishes he visit more. As he sits alone on the living room couch, Howard leafs through the scrapbook she’s kept of her movie star son. With each turn of the page is a new story pertaining to drugs, dustups, and other tabloid scandals.
Howard’s stroll down memory lane allows him to realize the pain his nefarious lifestyle has caused his mother. She kept the scrapbook as a testament of someone who is a user, an abuser, and completely isolated from others. His mother informs him he has a son living in Butte, Montana. Such a revelation is the perfect setup for Howard to travel a once dusty-now concrete road to find this mysterious woman, and possibly meet his child. There in Butte he finds the boy’s mother working as a barroom waitress. She is Doreen (Jessica Lange), still attractive, and bemused that this cowboy would ride into town again. It doesn’t take Howard long to find his son. “If you’re looking for your son,” she says, “that’s him, right there in front of you.” Howard turns to see a lanky mannered folk singer dressed in black performing on stage.
His son is Earl (Gabriel Mann), and he has a lot of resentment against the man claiming to be his father. Earl has a girlfriend, Amber (Fairuza Balk), who sports a Goth look, yet is shy underneath. Traveling around town, Howard is followed by another woman. This is Sky (Sarah Polley), his daughter by yet another woman. Who the woman is remains a mystery as Sky carries her ashes around in an urn.
A running theme in Shepard’s works, the father/son relationship is centered on abandonment and is central to the conflicts in his stories. From the outside Don’t Come Knocking is a story about making amends. Howard wants to put his egregious transgressions behind and start afresh. But his son is outraged, as this incident causes him to wrestle with his own past.
Wim Wenders’ vision of the American West goes beyond making amends; the need for human relationships and family is the best way to strengthen the harsh realities of life. Howard made the initial step by reconciling with the mother he hasn’t seen for 30 years. For him to be whole there must be some closure between him and the family he never knew.
Don’t Come Knocking is one of those films in which the finished project either works or it doesn’t. Shepard’s material is sufficient – but an element is missing. The characters are not emotional. His character is an archetype of cowboy movie lore, and is used as a metaphor. He has essentially become his on-screen image. A cowboy moving aimlessly, living alone and unattached. Except he seems to be looking at himself from the outside, as if he were a spectator to the interactions going on.
The supporting players are more realistic in their portrayals. Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) has a small role as a tracer for the insurance company that holds a bond on the movie project Howard skipped out on. His job is to track him down and bring him back to the set. Through questioning Howard’s mom and Doreen, his inscrutable attitudes are not impeded upon. Even his by-the-book manner to the family drama unfolding before him in the final act, illustrates a man who could care less.
The film’s greatest strength comes from its photography. Cinematographer Franz Lustig adeptly showcases the beauty of the American West. Every shot is wonderfully framed and ever so slightly reaches a surreal level of satisfaction. And I wonder if Wenders’ interests lie in the landscape tableau rather than those of emotional well-being.
It may turn out that Don’t Come Knocking is too plodding for the casual viewer – those unfamiliar with Wenders’ films or Shepard’s writing acumen. The film is far from perfect, but is layered and complex after initial glance. If you look at it as a fable about a modern cowboy discovering the need for human contact and interaction, then maybe, just maybe, you’ll witness Howard Spence riding off into the sunset once and for all.
THE VIDEO
(Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen)
I’ve already touched upon Franz Lustig’s brilliantly shot images, and it goes without saying. The picture looks immaculate. From Utah to Nevada, we are treated to remnants of a ghost town, the kinetic activity of a disco casino, lonely stretches of road and costumes that are distinct from the actors’ surroundings. A comparison can also be made at the lifestyle Howard Spence is trying to leave contrasted to Tim Roth’s character, who drives his Porsche in search of the elusive actor.
THE AUDIO
(English 5.1 – Dolby Digital)
Music is used sparingly in Don’t Come Knocking, but when incorporated it brings out emotion in scenes where dialogue could not. The soundtrack was produced by T-Bone Burnett, a name some may recognize from his work with the Coen brothers on O’ Brother Where Art Thou. His music is complimented by a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack that doesn’t allow the singing or guitar playing to overpower the voices of the characters. In a bit of a surprise there are no optional English subtitles, only French.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Typically, for such a small, independent release, the only extras Sony Pictures will include are trailers.
Well, trailers exist on this disc, but before given the opportunity to view them, you can listen to an audio commentary by director Wim Wenders, watch a couple of featurettes and see an interview conducted with Wenders and actress Eva Marie Saint.
Wenders begins his commentary by saying he doesn’t like the idea of people listening to him while trying to watch the movie. Still, he is pretty knowledgeable and scene-specific in his comments. As the movie opens he points out the only composite shot used during the entire film. He also acknowledges that in shots where Sam Shepard is galloping past the camera on his horse, well that wasn’t Sam at all. It was his son Jesse. He spends a great deal talking about the influence of film noir literature, especially the works of Dashiell Hammett – he considers Red Harvest to be his favorite American novel. Upon learning the events depicted in the novel were indeed fact, he traveled to the story’s setting: Butte, Montana. He had never seen any place like it. Many of the same locales Howard Spence visits were places Wenders stayed at or explored. Probably the best story he tells comes from when Tim Roth learned that Eva Marie Saint was in the film. He was pretty pissed that he didn’t have a scene with her. She is his favorite actress of all time, and to not share screen time with her is downright criminal. Well, since Wenders had the film’s writer on the set at all times, the problem was quickly remedied. For one short sequence you see Roth asking Saint questions as they bake cookies together.
The New York Premiere from March 9, 2006, at the Director’s Guild Theater, is documented in an 18-minute featurette. Wenders looks out of place with blue jeans, a red buttoned-down shirt and a plaid suit coat. After the film’s premiere there is a roundtable discussion with Jessica Lange, Gabriel Mann and Wenders on stage. A nameless moderator is there, but it is mostly the two performers and director sharing stories from the production; from the film’s conception and wanting to shoot at Monument Valley, to how Don’t Come Knocking was the first film to ever shoot in Butte.
The Sundance featurette opens with Wim Wenders admitting this is the fifth year working on the film. He and Sam spent three-and-a-half years writing the script. A half-year was spent shooting, and another year to edit. Following some quick sound bites from cast mates Fairuza Balk and Gabriel Mann, Wenders opens the picture at Sundance. Geoff Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival recognizes Wenders as a filmmaker who has given us films that are more insightful and more perceptive of American culture than any other director.
A sit-down interview with Eva Marie Saint and Wenders together is a little off-kilter, as we never see the person conducting the interview. Nameless and faceless, he asks the two softball questions. Directed to Win, “Why do Sam Shepard and you make such a good team?” Answering in jest: “Because we don’t get along.” Actually, their partnership works because Sam is concerned with characters, while Win is concerned with time and place. Wenders goes on to admit that many of the movies today are too story-driven, and actors are restricted in their plot.
Rounding out the disc are trailers for a number of Sony Pictures Classics releases: Quinceanera, Friends with Money, L’Enfant (The Child), Art School Confidential, The Devil and Daniel Johnson, Sketches of Frank Gehry, Cache, Mountain Patrol: Kekixiki, Why We Fight, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Lies and Alibis.
THE INSIDE PULSE
Don’t Come Knocking is an allegorical walkabout-like film about a movie cowboy who walks off the set, arrives home to his mother, and learns of something he never knew he had. Some of the scenes photographed in this picture – written by Sam Shepard and directed by Wim Wenders – have a visual splendor, while others seem out of place. The characters regretfully don’t display much emotion, ultimately hindering a greater enjoyment of the film. In spite of a nice assortment of extras, beautiful picture and sound, this DVD is a rental at best.
