TIFF Review - My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?

By Anne Brodie Sep 15, 2009, 18:51 GMT

Toronto International Film Festival Special Presentation Wed Sept 16 Elgin Theatre

David Lynch produces Werner Herzog’s surreal morality tale starring the excellent Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road and Shotgun Stories) Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, Irma Hall, and Loretta Devine. 

This phenomenally unconventional look at the ritual murder of a woman by her son is relentlessly disturbing and insanely fascinating, served up with a huge dollop of dread.  It’s a dreamscape filled with violence and fear so strong that knowing wasn’t enough to stop a savage act.  It’s loaded with its own imagery dolled up as Greek, and takes us on a wild ride careening between San Diego, Mexico and the middle of a teeming Arab marketplace.  Ostriches, oatmeal, and pillows play leading roles.  It has an external life that is contemporary, the police story and a netherworld as big as any tragic hero’s. 

All performances are memorable under Herzog’s watch but Loretta Devine in shock is the final straw in the collapse of the emotional house of cards.  It’s had to tell at times whether it’s a Lynch or a Herzog movie as many traditional Lynch elements show up, like midgets and bird sounds for starters.  A cunning triptych of actors staring out at us, breaking the forth wall, is as disturbing as anything else here, and that’s saying a lot.