Don't Come Knocking (2005)

Sadly Over-hyped

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

RELEASED IN 2005 and directed by Wim Wenders, "Don't Come Knocking" tells the story of a 60 year-old B-Western film has-been, Howard Spence (Sam Shepard), who is sick of his meaningless scandalous carnal existence. While on a film set in Utah he jumps ship and flees on a horse, searching for SOMETHING, like a reason to exist. He ultimately travels to Butte, Montana, where he gets reacquainted with an ex-girlfriend (Jessica Lange) and meets an angry young musician (Gabriel Mann) as well as a mysterious spiritual woman (Sarah Polley). Meanwhile the film company sends an eccentric bounty hunter (Tim Roth) to fetch Shepard for breach of contract.Although this is generally a quiet drama, it has a hip and likable artistic flair. The film is highlighted by magnificent Western locations and a nice modern Country/Western/Rockish score/soundtrack (non-twangy).We can all relate to Howard's search on some level; hence, despite the film's slow drama it generally maintains the viewer's attention throughout its runtime, unless you strictly favor fast-paced, quick-edited explosion-every-five-minutes thrillers.The two youths Howard meets in the story, Earl and Sky, represent two extremes. Earl's name is fitting because he's full of volcanic rage that spits out from deep within the Earth (Earl/Earth, get it?). Sky, on the other hand, is completely spiritual in nature (hence, sky/heaven). She's full of warmth, love, compassion and forgiveness. In fact, she's the crucial Christ figure without which there would be little reconciliation for anyone in the story.Take note of the scene where Sky meets Howard in his hotel room. Sky just looks at him with the understanding eyes of divine love. This naturally makes Spence uncomfortable; he's never experienced this before. He doesn't know what to do, so he asks her to leave.On a side note, Jessica Lange still looks good for being in her mid-50s but I found her character strange and annoying. Also, Earl's girlfriend (Fairuza Balk) is an entertaining free spirit who looks like she might be the daughter of Steven Tyler.The third act of "Don't Come Knocking" is too low-key for my tastes, but the movie's worthwhile if you favor the cast and have a taste for eccentric indie dramas, as well as stories about the modern West with echoes to the past.THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 51 minutes and was shot in Butte; Arches National Park and Moab, Utah; Elko and Wendover, Nevada; and Los Angeles. WRITERS: Sam Shepherd and Wim Wenders.GRADE: B-

This film starts out with Howard Spence, (Sam Shepard) who walks off the set of a Western he was starring in and no one can seem to find him which will cause a great deal of problems for the director and producer. Howard decides to visit his mother after not seeing her for 30 years, Eva Marie Saint plays the role as his mom and gave an outstanding performance. After visiting with his mother she tells Howard that he had a son from a women who came looking for him years ago and this puts an idea in Howard's head to visit the town where she lives. Howard seems to go around in circles with a young girl who follows him everywhere he goes and she carries an urn with her mother's ashes. There is one scene where Howard just sits on a couch which has been thrown out in the street for almost 24 hours while the camera views him for a long long time. The reason this film is depressing is the fact that Howard has abandoned his son and wife and he has to face his past sins and mistakes. The moral of this story is simply, "What you Reap, You Sow". Strange film, but down to earth.

"Just fear" admits Howard Spence (Sam Sheppard) to the mother (Jessica Lange) of his child. A child he knew nothing about until his mother (Eva Marie Sainte) tells him when she meets him again some thirty years later. Fear, disgust and disappointment with his life strikes suddenly Howard Spence after many years in the forefront as a top actor in westerns. His quest is to find his child. Sexually attractive he suffers now from succumbing willingly to women's erotic enticements (widespread among successful politicians and businessmen during the centuries). Suddenly one summer day on the film set he realizes that he has messed up his life. He has to escape from his world of romantic western film. He is deeply disturbed. His fear is not just his but that of a great many people in the world, no more so than Americans with their "American Dream". Even those who returned from WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq who became disillusioned and disappointed. The beautiful filming, poetic dialog, the lovely country and western music and brilliant acting by all in this penetrating vision that demands from Americans and Europeans understanding of and empathy for the worrying reverse side of the American Dream - all these make this film a masterpiece.

This Movie tells you over and over how overwhelming life becomes because of obligations that exist before you arrive or set up as you go through life in one way or another and the realization that you don't have the depth that everyone expects you to have in any given situation. The character is trying to fill up the wide spaces in his heart but everything that belongs in the spaces is too demanding to cling to so he takes comfort in the wide spaces and emptiness of places. Watch the surrounding backdrops and how they parallel this character. You want more, you're supposed to. He wants more but doesn't know how to find comfort there. There just may not be any comfort in having closeness to anything or anyone. I definitely agree with the person who spoke of SAM's influence on the screenplay it's great. I thought performances were wonderful and liked the little surprises like George Kennedy and Tom Cruise and Tim Matthieson (The voice of Jonny Quest Eva Marie Saint is perfect and so is Jessica Lange and Tim Roth. Step outside the box and don't look for "Hollywoodland" formula, look for what the writer wanted to impart and then feel the movie for what it is, not what you want it to be!