Don't Come Knocking
Right now I'm sitting in a Seattle cafe, shaking my head and mumbling to myself, hoping I'm not getting too many glances, wondering just how it is that I am to write about the film I just saw. Because, what I just saw, was brilliant. Sometimes I forget just how good it can get.
Wim Wenders has done it once again. 'Don't Come Knocking' is a masterpiece of subtle writing, acting on the highest degree, and that Wenders touch I have come to equate with what a true art film really is. 'Don't Come Knocking' is my personal favorite film of 2006 so far.
Ok, I've had another cup of joe, and think I can say a few words on the film. Sam Shepard wrote the film with Wenders, and also stars as the lead role, of an aging actor who realizes one day while on set that his life has just sort of slipped away from him, and the booze, drugs, the fame, the girls, just mean nothing anymore, and never did. "It was never me who did those things!" he cries to someone at one point, revealing (to himself) that he doesn't even know who he is, or how so much time has gone by. He finds out that he has a child, created somewhere along the way in his turbulent life, and it dawns on him that this is his last chance to make some kind of sense out of his life. He has left the set without a word and finds himself in Butte Montana, trying to put together the threads of the family he never had. Shepard is amazing, as is Eva Marie Saint. Remember her? Wow she looks good! Watching her onscreen is like going to an actor's workshop, and I wanted to clap after every time she spoke. She certainly lives up to the legend she has created for herself. Tim Roth is perfect for his role, and Jessica Lange, Gabriel Mann and Sarah Polley are also quite brilliant here. Overall, the acting is the best I've seen in a while.
Now, I know this film hasn't gotten the best reviews by the critics. And it actually didn't do so well in Seattle theaters the last few weeks. But each year I like to 'champion' a film in a way - to find a film that is maybe a little odd, or perhaps has been overlooked or misunderstood by the majority of filmgoers. Sometimes it's a little independent film no one knows about, or maybe a new director's first go at filmmaking. Last year it was 'Earthling,' a brilliant documentary, and 'You and Me and Everyone We Know.' Well, this year's first film I am willing to go out on a limb for is 'Don't Come Knocking.' I don't care what the critics say, and I don't care that it hasn't done so hot at the box office. And I hope neither do you. I'm doing my best to arrange the schedule such that we can play this film at the Grand.
Wim Wenders has done it once again. 'Don't Come Knocking' is a masterpiece of subtle writing, acting on the highest degree, and that Wenders touch I have come to equate with what a true art film really is. 'Don't Come Knocking' is my personal favorite film of 2006 so far.
Ok, I've had another cup of joe, and think I can say a few words on the film. Sam Shepard wrote the film with Wenders, and also stars as the lead role, of an aging actor who realizes one day while on set that his life has just sort of slipped away from him, and the booze, drugs, the fame, the girls, just mean nothing anymore, and never did. "It was never me who did those things!" he cries to someone at one point, revealing (to himself) that he doesn't even know who he is, or how so much time has gone by. He finds out that he has a child, created somewhere along the way in his turbulent life, and it dawns on him that this is his last chance to make some kind of sense out of his life. He has left the set without a word and finds himself in Butte Montana, trying to put together the threads of the family he never had. Shepard is amazing, as is Eva Marie Saint. Remember her? Wow she looks good! Watching her onscreen is like going to an actor's workshop, and I wanted to clap after every time she spoke. She certainly lives up to the legend she has created for herself. Tim Roth is perfect for his role, and Jessica Lange, Gabriel Mann and Sarah Polley are also quite brilliant here. Overall, the acting is the best I've seen in a while.
Now, I know this film hasn't gotten the best reviews by the critics. And it actually didn't do so well in Seattle theaters the last few weeks. But each year I like to 'champion' a film in a way - to find a film that is maybe a little odd, or perhaps has been overlooked or misunderstood by the majority of filmgoers. Sometimes it's a little independent film no one knows about, or maybe a new director's first go at filmmaking. Last year it was 'Earthling,' a brilliant documentary, and 'You and Me and Everyone We Know.' Well, this year's first film I am willing to go out on a limb for is 'Don't Come Knocking.' I don't care what the critics say, and I don't care that it hasn't done so hot at the box office. And I hope neither do you. I'm doing my best to arrange the schedule such that we can play this film at the Grand.
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