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.
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.