Don't Come Knocking, like Wim Wenders' 1984 film, Paris Texas, is set largely in the western deserts of the USA. And like the earlier film it concerns a man too fond of drink, who is searching for a lost family and for lost meaning to his life. But the two films have quite different "feels" to them; and while usually one might expect Wenders' later piece - made in his 60th year - to be more melancholy and pessimistic, in fact it is far lighter and more hopeful in tone than the earlier work.
There's also an interesting comparison to be made with Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, made just about the same time, and also about a middle-aged man looking for a child he never knew he'd fathered. But, again, while Bill Murray's character in that movie is the epitome of world weariness and cynicism, Sam Shepard who wrote DCK, and plays the lead, invests his character with more curiosity and perhaps more regret, about the alternative life he might have had but missed.
From the moment Shepard, as Howard Spence a veteran film star, rides his horse off the set of a western and just keeps going, the movie is full of quirky episodes and quirkier characters, possibly the weirdest being Tim Roth's insurance investigator in ice-cold, rather than hot, pursuit of Howard. Then there's Gabriel Mann as Earl, a modern folk singer, and possibly Howard's son; Fairuza Balk as Amber, Earl's faithful, cookie girlfriend; and, most captivating of all, Sarah Polley as the mysterious, ultra-serene Sky. Also in the mix, and playing less eccentric roles, are Eva Marie Saint as Howard's mother, and Jessica Lange.
This is one of the most watchable films I've seen in recent months, and represents Wim Wenders at the top of his considerable form. The camera-work includes both awesome landscapes and Edward Hopperesque townscapes; but essentially the film like most great movies is character-driven. Shepard and Wenders have created people we really care about and for whom we want the best.
One reading of Don't Come Knocking is possibly that, like Harry Dean Stanton's Travis in Paris Texas, Howard cannot escape the hopeless life he has chosen for himself; but I detect in the closing moments of DCK a hint that his own choice may not turn out to be his final destiny.
.
There's also an interesting comparison to be made with Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, made just about the same time, and also about a middle-aged man looking for a child he never knew he'd fathered. But, again, while Bill Murray's character in that movie is the epitome of world weariness and cynicism, Sam Shepard who wrote DCK, and plays the lead, invests his character with more curiosity and perhaps more regret, about the alternative life he might have had but missed.
From the moment Shepard, as Howard Spence a veteran film star, rides his horse off the set of a western and just keeps going, the movie is full of quirky episodes and quirkier characters, possibly the weirdest being Tim Roth's insurance investigator in ice-cold, rather than hot, pursuit of Howard. Then there's Gabriel Mann as Earl, a modern folk singer, and possibly Howard's son; Fairuza Balk as Amber, Earl's faithful, cookie girlfriend; and, most captivating of all, Sarah Polley as the mysterious, ultra-serene Sky. Also in the mix, and playing less eccentric roles, are Eva Marie Saint as Howard's mother, and Jessica Lange.
This is one of the most watchable films I've seen in recent months, and represents Wim Wenders at the top of his considerable form. The camera-work includes both awesome landscapes and Edward Hopperesque townscapes; but essentially the film like most great movies is character-driven. Shepard and Wenders have created people we really care about and for whom we want the best.
One reading of Don't Come Knocking is possibly that, like Harry Dean Stanton's Travis in Paris Texas, Howard cannot escape the hopeless life he has chosen for himself; but I detect in the closing moments of DCK a hint that his own choice may not turn out to be his final destiny.
.