kalibeans
Another brilliant story, beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, fantastic soundtrack of a film that totally escaped my radar out here in the suburbs until tonight, thanks to some meandering on IMDb, I came across it. Thank you Sam Shepard for a wonderfully told story driven film. Thank you Wim Wenders for making it. And thanks to all the rest of the cast and crew who were a part of it. When I look at the gross for this movie, and the gross for this summers biggest "blockbuster", it saddens me. Don't be afraid to expand your horizons a bit American movie going public. You will be amazed at what all you have missed if you stick merely to the current big movie. Last but never, ever least thanks to T Bone Burnett for another amazing soundtrack. A wonderful evening for this movie lover.
dragokin
Isn't is strange that two art-house movies come out at approximately the same time, made by directors who never craved mainstream fame and share significant similarities in plot? Well, this was exactly the case with Don't Come Knocking and Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmush. Both movies are about a man looking for a child he's never heard of before.Then they diverge and we follow Sam Shepard's character, a mid-aged wannabe cowboy wasting his life away. In a slow pace he unravels the mysteries of his past and find more than he hoped for.Don't Come Knocking is slow, but in this case it adds to the realism of the movie. And you get what you'd expect from Wim Wenders...
Claudio Carvalho
While filming "The Phanton of the Desert" in the middle of nowhere in Moab, Utah City, the washed-out veteran actor Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) has an existential crisis and leaves the location riding a horse. Howard was a famous cowboy in western movies in the past, but is decadent due to his reckless and explosive behavior, abusive use of booze and drugs and scandalous affairs with many women. Howard gets some money, destroys his credit cards, rents a car and takes a bus later to Elko, his hometown in Nevada. He meets his mother, who tells him that he has a son. He drives to Butte, Montana, where he finds the former waitress Doreen (Jessica Lange), her son Earl (Gabriel Mann), the mysterious Sky (Sarah Polley) with the ghosts he left behind and the life that he could have had. Meanwhile, the production calls the insurance company that sends the investigator Sutter (Tim Roth) to chase him."Don't Come Knocking" is an original and sad story about existential and identity crisis of a man that reaches the third age with his career and personal life in a complete mess, totally disconnected from family and friends and maybe missing a different lifestyle with a family of his own. He decides to meet his past, but always chased by his troubled present with younger women and alcohol. The direction of Wim Wenders is effective as usual, supported by engaging story, screenplay and dialogs in partnership with the lead actor Sam Shepard. The acting is top-notch, and the locations especially in the beginning and in the casino have magnificent cinematography. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Estrela Solitária" ("Lonely Star")
isaopcion
Since I heard that Wim Wenders was collaborating again with Sam Shepard, I got very interested in seeing the result. This film has fulfilled all my expectations: it is a very good movie, which reflects as in a mirror the spirit of Shepard's plays and short tales. The screenplay from Mr. Shepard finds in Mr. Wenders's filming the perfect complement. The story contains many of Sam Shepard's constant themes:father/son issues, family concerns, landscape as a reflection of the main character's inner being... So, it will not surprise to any "fan" of Mr. Shepard as a writer, but could result striking for those who don't know his work (as, unfortunately, it happens here in Spain, where he is not very well-known as a playwright). It is also remarkable the work of all the actors in the movie: both young and mature characters are wonderfully played by them. So, one has the pleasure of watching the progression of the new generation beside the experience of solid stars, as Eva-Marie Saint. It is an additional pro seeing Mr. Shepard acting with/confronted to Jessica Lange: the result is a very intense film that I would recommend to people interested in discovering the "roots" of American people, a view built, in this occasion, by both an American-born writer and an European director.
AD
