Don't Come Knocking
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Apparently, the audience booed this movie at Cannes: I absolutely adored it. Plus, I had a spooky moment as I watched it. One of my favourite travel writers, the late Pete McCarthy, wrote of Butte, Montana in his Road To McCarthy in such a way that I put that town on my list of places to visit. As I was watching this movie, seeing the Finlen Hotel and the M & M Diner, I was reminded more and more forcibly of McCarthy's description of the town - although I hadn't actually realised that was where we were or that they were the specific places McCarthy had visited. But, sure enough,
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"I stepped inside and found myself in American lowlife heaven. To my right is a long breakfast counter; to my left, a long and very well stocked bar; ahead of me, several card tables and a handful of poker machines. There were more customers eating breakfast than drinking liquor or gambling, but only just. They are the people you have seen sitting in diners in every blue collar movie you've ever watched: hunting jackets, baseball caps, plaid shirts, heavy boots, visible weapons. The men look pretty tough as well."So, we watch Howard trying to re-connect with his past (with vague similarities to Broken Flowers, including one scene in which Howard is becalmed in a sofa) - we learn when he visits his mother in Elko, Nevada (a town dominated by casinos) that some woman has made contact with her, claiming to be the mother of Howard's son. That woman lived in Butte - a place where Howard had made a movie, before a well documented decline into drugs and alcohol: his mother had a scrap book recording every step. So, we go off to Butte.
At the same time, there is this young woman, Skye (Sarah Polley),
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But the main action is around Howard meeting up with his old flame, Doreen (Jessica Lange) and getting to meet his son, Earl (Ganriel Mann). Earl is none-too-keen: he thinks Howard is a narc, has been following him - which introduces a weird element: Howard's film posters are all over the M & M diner, yet Earl doesn't recognise him from them. Earl is a very angry young man: there's a brilliant scene in which he discharges the entire contents of his apartment out through a fairly narrow window - the double bed must have been a mission! Luckily, neither his guitar nor his baby amp are broken, so he can start a song.
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By now, it is pretty clear that Skye is Howard's daughter, I think that is foreshadowed fairly early in the movie so it comes as no surprise - she plays a vital role in getting Earl to be a little less aangry and accept Howard as his father. Earl seems to have no trouble with the idea of having a half sister turn up out of the blue.
Some have objected to the thin plot, but it is far more of film about characters (who I did find interesting) and relationships. Those who want every last detail of motivation laid out like road signs will be disappointed, but eventually things do become pretty clear as to what Howard is up to. Of course, a movie about an actor is just a little too obvious, but there seemed to be a sub-text which was only ever really hinted at, as to whether Howard had any sort of reality, or whether he simply disappeared into his characters. When he does meet up with Doreen, she certainly accuses him of being a nothing, of wanting to once again disappear, taking her for his cover. The only character that rung a bit false for me was Earl: he was too much the classic angry young man to be taken seriously. One last comment must be made about the music - T Bone Burnett as the musical director here produced the beautifully sparse guitar chords which were totally appropriate for the location, and then had the film end with a very traditional sounding, yet impromptu, singalong.
Butte remains a place I must visit, and soon.
1 Comments:
Am missing your insight...
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