Touches You

Excellent adaptation.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Don't Come Knocking (2005)A disappointing attempt at gritty Western aura, movie insider savvy, and creative parallel plotting and editing. It has elements of camp, of post-modern drama (references to earlier movies or movie types), and even some genuine sincerity.There is a terrific George Kennedy, who is still active and very much making movies with his over-sized persona. There are smaller roles by several women, including a wan and frankly dull if pretty Sarah Polley. And mostly there is Sam Shepard being Sam Shepard, which is pretty good stuff. But he plays a famous actor who walks off a cheesy movie shoot into reality, and for the rest of the movie is walking as if in a dream through a reality he never quite knew existed.I think this looked great on paper. At least until someone read the script. It just doesn't hold water, partly for the simple fact that we couldn't care less about most of these folk. In particular, the movie makers, the directors and execs are playing meaningless roles that might mean something to insiders, but to the rest of us (I'm not an insider, thankfully), it's self-indulgent and, well, boring.What works best? Well, since the story pushes you out you look at the performances straight up, and some, like Shepard's, are strong (he reminds me of Woody Harrelson in this film, for some reason). There's the music (by T-Bone Burnett), an often used electric guitar sound with a country twang that is appealing and sometimes even evocative. And there is the filming, which is unadorned and very nice, depending on some amazing scenes, and the light and color in them. If there is ever an Oscar for scouting, for period sets that hype up the truth of a certain period, this is a good candidate. Certainly the light is romantically appealing.But I'm stretching to see the best in a plodding film that had potential and lost its velocity very early on. It has to be added that the director, Wim Wenders, has done some amazing work, and has his own following. But he might be trying to cash in on "Paris, Texas" which has its own small cult following, and which at least has a quirky and disturbing element to it. Here it is mostly a matter of wandering in the modern wilderness, and Wenders, I really believe, is not quite in touch with what makes America America. It feels cold and superficial. See his "Wings of Desire" for a masterpiece. Here? Have patience. Oh...and enjoy the scenery!

This film starts out with Howard Spence, (Sam Shepard) who walks off the set of a Western he was starring in and no one can seem to find him which will cause a great deal of problems for the director and producer. Howard decides to visit his mother after not seeing her for 30 years, Eva Marie Saint plays the role as his mom and gave an outstanding performance. After visiting with his mother she tells Howard that he had a son from a women who came looking for him years ago and this puts an idea in Howard's head to visit the town where she lives. Howard seems to go around in circles with a young girl who follows him everywhere he goes and she carries an urn with her mother's ashes. There is one scene where Howard just sits on a couch which has been thrown out in the street for almost 24 hours while the camera views him for a long long time. The reason this film is depressing is the fact that Howard has abandoned his son and wife and he has to face his past sins and mistakes. The moral of this story is simply, "What you Reap, You Sow". Strange film, but down to earth.

There aren't many ways to be a screenwriter, ways of delivering a story. There are fewer than the playwright has, though the stories can have more variety and structure. Sam Shepard crossed that line a long time ago. He was lucky at first, because he found a sweet spot where the limits of the portal between the two could have such restrictions that he could write about those restrictions and have them convey as some sort of existential clarity. Since then, he's been more active as a player than a playwright. But in this, he's less an actor than what used to be called a "character actor," meaning there's one type that he is famous for playing, and he just gets plugged in wherever that character is required.It must be extremely depressing to be so limited in your art and know it. The knowing is the hard part and I suppose its easy to see it as a life wasted. So what does someone in this position do? He writes about it. What else is there?So we have a story about an aging character actor who breaks away from acting. He just cannot stand it any more. So he reaches out the family he knows: his mom. And from that he learns of another family, and then a family beyond that. His real-life wife is an actress of some range and ability, someone less intelligent and perhaps as a result more committed and successful. She plays the old, short lived girlfriend he got pregnant during a shoot. Her character, though she is a waitress, is someone successfully in the world and able to cope with loneliness. Sarah Polley is a writer, actress, director who I think has enormous talent, which is a shorthand way of saying that she limits the art rather than the other way around that Shepard has. She plays a third layer of family, a sort of calm anchor, a sort of token of the other extreme from Shepard's character.That's it. That's the structure of this thing. All else are episode that set the fences and paddocks. Its pretty darned effective, if you know what it is, and touching.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Sam Shepard is Howard Spence, western movie star. As the movie begins we see an on-location shoot, dressing trailers circled, and the assistant director moving about on a Segway. Howard, in costume and on his horse, simply decides to ride off "into the sunset", not telling anyone that he is leaving. This of course causes panic among the production crew, and especially the surety bond company which has $$millions to lose if the movie is not completed.Soon Howard encounters a dirty, shabbily dressed man, offers him the horse, boots, and fancy shirt and vest, all in exchange for the other man's dirty shirt. We soon find out why, the police are looking for a man dressed a certain way.Howard has lots on his mind. From conversation and newspaper clippings we learn that he has had an exciting life in the movie business, most of it unflattering, and when he finally breaks down and needs to reflect, he goes where any grown boy would go, to Momma's house. She is played by the great Eva Marie Saint. In their short visit, their first in over 30 years, she tells him, by the way, you have a son in Butte Montana.So the most of the movie is Howard's travel to Butte to find his old girl Doreen (Jessica Lange) who has worked her way up from waiting tables to running the restaurant, and to see what he might need to learn regarding his son. His quest seems a bit aimless, and many of the conversations seem to go nowhere. I was overall disappointed in the movie. The scenery was nice, the cinematography exceptional, making me feel like I was right there with the characters. But the obvious mostly went unspoken, the characters often behaved in very strange ways.Tim Roth was fine as Sutter, the man working for the bond company whose job it was to find Howard and bring him back to honor his contract. Gabriel Mann was a bit too 'over the top' as Earl, the angry son Howard never knew. His character should have been more interesting. Sarah Polley was OK as the mysterious Sky, carrying around her mother's ashes in an urn. Doreen was hardly believable and several times a bit histrionic.SPOILERS. Sutter finally caught up with Howard in Butte. Handcuffed him and brought him back. As Howard was leaving he gave Earl his car. He found out also that Sky was really his daughter. He apparently had lots of flings over the years. The movie ends with Howard back on location, finishing the movie and kissing his love interest, played by an actress young enough to be his daughter. Strange movie. Free DVD loan for my local library.