Not to put too fine a point on it, Brad is clearly certifiable (as was Yavorsky). While the temptation is seductive, even overpowering, those who try to explain schizophrenia in historical, rational terms do so at their peril. Those close to Brad admit only he was “changed” when he returned from Peru. Having the results of his handiwrork, the detectives who arrive on the scene (Willem Dafoe and Michael Peña) take Brad seriously (Brad has holed himself up into his house across the street along with two “hostages”). But then, they hadn’t interviewed him and are only playing the situation by the book. A correct diagnosis would not likely have changed their strategy. (More on this shortly.)

I’m not saying that anyone should have smelled danger about the “changed” Brad, but the fact that his friends were willing to make allowances in one form or another speaks volumes about the kind of social animals we are. I feel that this is the most reliable dramatic thesis in the screenplay, yet it is not underscored by Herzog. What’s more, I remain pretty much unimpressed by any suggestion of cause and effect relationship between the play Brad was rehearsing and the matricide, and I doubt that Herzog would say otherwise. The play and the sword are convenient devices both to mature and crystalize Brad’s pre-existing insanity and for Herzog’s narrative. Bad luck for mom. Werner has a field day with it.

So, what’s all this about a comedy! As Roger Ebert tells us repeatedly, a movie isn’t just about its subject but it’s about how it’s about its subject. At the risk of seeming all film-schooly, starting with the opening scene where Detectives Havenhurst and Vargas joke in the car before they head off to the murder scene, there is hardly a moment, aside from the fleeting shot of the corpse floating in her blood, that isn’t dripping with off-kilter humor. Over here we have the detectives making the oddest measurements of the precise placement of coffee cups on a table in the room adjacent to the murdered victim as if they could have the remotest importance; later we see them standing in the street both with their hands up discussing strategy; and later still, Vargas delivering pizza to a talking garage door. There’s Brad yelling to the detectives through a curtain behind a sliding glass door - as the voice speaks, wizardlike, the curtain moves like he’s breathing directly into it. Then we have the rehearsals of Orestes where Brad stands there dazed, brandishing a lethal sword, and all the director can say is that it’s not a proper Greek sword.

There’s Brad Dourif as Uncle Ted, whose very presence is pure comedy, assisted by a corral full of world’s largest bird in one scene and the world’s smallest man in another. There’s the Peruvian expedition where every man is whacked out of his mind on some hallucinogenic or other, and where only Brad has the good sense not to risk having his brains bashed in by a raging river I wouldn’t dip my toe into – and even he has to invent an “inner voice” to get himself off the hook. But nothing compares to mother herself: the amazing Grace Zabriskie, with cheeks a chipmunk would envy and a glance of pure reproach. Perhaps you remember her as the bobbing head that warns Laura Dern in Inland Empire... which reminds me again that this movie feels more like David Lynch than Herzog - and not only because of the pink flamingos.)

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First Look Studios

Region 1 - NTSC

1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 8.3 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary with Director Werner Herzog, Co-Writer Herbert Golder & Producer Eric Bassett
• “Behind the Madness” - with Werner Herzog and co-writer Herbert Golder (27:30)
• “Plastic Bag” - a film by Ramin Rahani (18:25)
• Previews: My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, Leaves of Grass & The Locksmith

DVD Release Date: September 14, 2001
Standard U.S DVD Case

Chapters 12

Image: 4/3
As it happens I do watch a good deal of DVD material so I am not so caught up with high definition video that I can’t appreciate what 480 can look like. So I must report that First Look does not present an image that will make you feel good about spending all that money on your home theater. Despite its high bit rate (averaging about 8.3 Mbps) and its being free of damage and having as little evidence of edge enhancement as any DVD out there, the image is remarkably vague (to call it “soft” would be kind), with no black or much of any tonality to speak of, with swaths of overexposure to the point of having neither color or detail. Having not seen the movie theatrically I cannot comment as to the DVD’s authenticity - only to say if this represents Herzog’s intentions I am at a loss to explain why.

I might add that Herzog shot his movie with the Red One HDCAM which can record at resolutions up to 4,096 horizontal by 2,304 vertical pixels. Other movies shot with the Red One include: The Girlfriend Experience, Che and District 9. Given the results we see in both the theatrical and high def video image for District 9 we have to assume the look of Herzog’s film is intentional post-processing or the result of a transfer accident, and not due to the camera.

As for the possibility of this being a transfer error, I offer these two caps in evidence: the one taken from the DVD feature film, the other from the Making Of Bonus Feature (see last capture). I shall say no more.

Audio: 4/8
It’s unfortunate that 5.1 Surround has become the default expectation these days, because there are some instances – and this movie is a good example - where a simple PCM stereo would have served its intentions much better. Just about everything takes place in the forward channels, even though there are at least two scenes that call out for an immersive soundscape: when Brad and friend stand next to the swollen river rapids and the scene near the end that takes place in the middle of a busy Chinese market.

The only thing that stands out to me as not essentially comical is the music, which, depending on your view of the movie, serves to underscore the pathos or act as counterpoint to it. The sung material - clearly recorded and spaciously presented compared to everything else - is from south of the border, much of which has an arresting bittersweet, nostalgic quality. This is especially true of both the music under the title credits and the long held shot in the winter forest. You might recognize the latter (“Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma”) from Happy Together where Wong Kar Wai used it as the camera pans across Iguazu Falls. The song is so mesmerizing and affecting that it transcends the need for translation and demands to be played in the foreground. Herzog begins the song behind dialogue but soon stops the action on the screen altogether as it continues its lament.

Extras: 8
The extra features for First Look’s DVD cover the required areas of interest, plus a bonus. First up is an audio commentary with the director, co-writer Herbert Golder & producer Eric Bassett that accompanies the length of the movie, a fascinating trialogue in its own right. Herzog is always intriguing, even if his subject is often himself and not the movie.

In “Behind the Madness” Herzog and co-writer Herbert Golder talk about how they came to this project, the real life inspiration for their film and how and why they reconsidered it for cinematic purposes. Even though Golder had interviewed Yavorsky extensively and Herzog met him once, their movie is not in any way a documentary, nor, for that matter, all that much about the real killer.

“Plastic Bag,” narrated by Herzog and directed by by Ramin Rahani, is an eighteen minute film about the life of a plastic grocery bag. Wry and worth your time.

Recommendation: 4
The picture quality of First Look’s DVD of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is even less inviting than David Lynch’s Inland Empire. I have some trouble seeing the point of it, except to suggest a dreamlike state - and even then, it strikes me as contrary for its own sake. The audio is acceptable if unremarkable. Extra Features are interesting. The movie is not typical of this director - not in style, tone, or photography, yet Herzog is still recognizable under the hood. Rent it first. It’s an odd chicken, but you might like it
 

  - Leonard Norwitz

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Region 1 - NTSC