Low and behold, Herzog actually manages to make one of his better films here, where i was least expecting it. Works in pretty much all the ways that Bad Lieutenant didn't, and the Lynch collab seems to have brought the best out of both their sensibilities (which from watching this i actually realize are more similar than i once might have though). Too bad the cinematography is so hideously washed-out looking in the worst possible way.

I love Werner Herzog. I'm totally digging his animal obsession that I suppose he's always had, but which has really surfaced in everything ever since Grizzly Man. It's here, as strong as ever. I've read online people saying that this movie adds up to a lot of crazy, weird scenes but not much substantively. I would just ask those people to re-examine the flamingos. Herzog is never given enough credit. Nor was this movie. It's not his best, but it's so dense, it deserves serious thought.

70.375

Awkward dialogue and some really ludicrous moments keep this film from working well for me. It almost seemed like a parody of Lynch: for instance, Herzog shows that Grace Zabriskie staring vacantly into space can be made to look weird by anyone. In spite of this, the film is nicely shot and makes me enthusiastic about the future of digital cinematography.

Take one part Lynch and one part Herzog, mix them together in a blender and you have this film. I absolutely love the convention-defying trademarks of both of these great directors, which are on full display here. However, while I enjoyed particular scenes, lines, and shots, the film as a whole felt sort of half-cocked and hollow. I would say I "liked" this movie, but I can't get over how the whole thing felt a little undercooked.

herzog and lynch trying to out-weird each other, i guess. the main character isn't very interesting, and the dialogue is on the terrible side, but it's visually classic herzog, with really cool colours, random exotic animals, and lazy meandering handheld.

alakasizlar abidesi.

While the movie is visually wonderful, I felt like it was a bit scatterbrained with the character development and was hoping for a bit brighter of a performance from just about every actor.

never

There are interesting elements here, playing around with Greek tragedy and other odd moments, but the central character is in this case no Aguirre, or Fitzcarraldo, or Stroszek. Instead, the film comes across as a rather mundane, if quirky, case study about mental illness, that leaves this viewer, at least, wondering what Herzog is really trying to do in his narrative films these days.

"My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is more controlled in its absurdism than Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, but it is easily the lesser work." - Fernando F. Croce

Herzog got a bit lazy with this movie, but the small scope and experimentation with narrative only makes the descent into madness feel authentic. I especially loved the dialogs. I dislike Shannon in most movies, but boy can he act given a good role. The only disappointment was that we actually did not get to see midget riding an ostrich.

In spite of all odd choices and interesting visionary touches Herzog creates a totally dull experience

Again with the mad protagonist, Peru, folk music, and aestheticized dreamy moments... it's a nice cast but this is Herzog on auto-pilot.

What the hell! Was it improvised - why else would the plot and dialogue be so astoundingly subpar? Bringing nothing interesting to the table, this plays as an underdeveloped brainchild which should have been aborted. Only brilliant, self-indulgent people would have the audacity to put their names on such a stinker. Putting out an unwatchable movie, completely devoid of atmosphere, they are, I believe, trying to be edgy and funny, pulling off neither. Man, I hated this film.

Interesting concept, but ultimately it falls flat. I can see why Herzog was attracted by this idea - his resume is filled with films about psychopaths and oddballs. But Shannon doesn't have the magnetism of Kinski or Bruno S, and the character just isn't very captivating generally. There are a few funny moments, mostly when Dourif is on screen, but otherwise it feels kind of tedious.

Herzog's cinematic autism continues to drag his talent for peculiarities down. His laziest and worst.

I can't say I would go out of my way to recommend this to someone. You can make obvious comparisons with the bird focus similar to that of the reptiles in 'Bad Lieutenant'(they were released at the same festival so maybe they compliment each other). The long pausing shots of the cast just staring into the camera as in waiting for you to expect something dramatic to happen just continue to challenge conventions making this a unique horror. My hard on for anything Herzog knows no bounds.

This isn't a great movie to seen if you don't particularly feel like delving into its obscure, and for me unrewarding, depths. The performances are difficult to judge as they are purposefully stilted, and the film was shot with a harsh aesthetic that I didn't appreciate. I much prefer this kind of symbolism be buried in an interesting narrative rather than laid bare on the surface of such an unapproachable affair.

I am at a loss for words to express the exact nature of the terrible moments and ideas littered throughout, but terrible it is. And from Herzog - with a Dourif, Dafoe, & Udo Kier role - that don't make a lick of sense (much like this movie).

Unique, and funny in both senses of the word. Not action-packed but reeeeeal Herzog-y

This film is a basketball left in a tree. But I think it has a puncture.

Everything about the film - composition, staging, acting, dialogue - calls attention to itself... like a pretentious local theatre production of Waiting for Godot, acted by little people reading a teleprompter. Which probably has to do with madness and perspective. Or it could simply be about folk music and ostriches. Either way, it's mesmerizing.

Dobrze zagrany, intrygujaca historia.

This feels exactly like what you expect a Lynch/Herzog collaboration to feel like. The obsessive madness of Herzog, the melodramatic strangeness of Lynch. There are some wonderful moments here, even a couple of transcendent ones. The cast is a nice mix of oddballs. I was unsure about Michael Shannon and Chloe Sevigny at first, but they grew on me a lot. Terrific music, too. The pieces don't necessarily add up to much, but for the most part they're compelling pieces.

A typically strange and idiosyncratic Herzog film, brilliantly staged and captured with swift hand-held camerawork. Unfortunately it's a bit hindered by some spotty acting, an overactive and incongruous score, and its amorphous structure. There are a lot of good ideas, though, and several scenes border on greatness.

A dark and strange film tinged in sadness, one where the weirder aspects amplifies the main themes further. Absolutely worth seeing.

To start, this movie looks beautiful and was hopelessly entertaining. However, I know Herzog has done better. This film follows similar themes of madness that pervade much of Herzog's work. However, the film never steps back to look at the greater context of what's going on, leaving us with nothing but the ravings of a madman.

There is just nothing of genuine interest or accomplishment going on here -- not the acting, not the script, not the score, not the lighting (hideous, by the way) -- nothing. There are a few genuinely (bizarrely) funny Herzog-ian moments that do make it barely worth watching for completists, but I'm afraid that's really about it.

I have to say, I thought the subject matter was very interesting and that the overall structure of the film worked well. There was always a kind of disconnect held between the real world and Ben's world. However, the acting, which I must assume was intentionally bland and forced, was quite distracting rather than effective.