December 14, 2009 01:30PM EST

Herzog's My Son at IFC Center

Grace Zabriskie, Michael Shannon, Chloe Sevigny
 
After premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September of this year, where Werner Herzog was the first director to be nominated for two Golden Lion awards in one year, his latest film My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done opened at the IFC Center last Friday. As Herzog took the stage for the first public screening of My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done, he was greeted with the warmest applause possible from an audience who had been waiting in a line wrapped around the IFC Center in 22-degree weather. (The line was a prediction of this film's built-in cult following; it sold out shows all weekend.)

Executive produced by another eclectic auteur, David Lynch, My Son is loosely based on the true story of Mark Yarovsky, a San Diego grad student who, after being cast as the matricidal lead in the Greek tragedy Orestes, murders his mother with a samurai sword. Such a story would seem to lend itself to a dark drama, if not horror film. However, in this film the story plays more as a comedy, albeit a very dark one. At times it evokes laugh-out-loud humor: Michael Shannon’s character Brad claims that God lives in his kitchen, lifts a can of oatmeal (labeled “Puritan Oatmeal”), and introduces “God” to his girlfriend (played by Chloe Sevigny). Moments like these are coupled with a chorus of violins laced with tribal vocals, creating an air of surrealist daytime soap operas in scenes that have the potential for dramatic poignancy. Performances from Grace Zabriskie (Big Love) as the pink flamingo-obsessed mother, Udo Kier as the theatre director, and Brad Dourif as the homophobic ostrich-raising uncle all create an ensemble of eccentrics that hold up the film. 



My Son has been the subject of intrigue from the moment Herzog and Lynch decided to team up. Herzog met Lynch years ago while paying a visit to Mel Brooks’ office during the prep of Elephant Man. He was raving about the brilliance of Eraserhead when Brooks mentioned that Lynch was in the office next door. (As Herzog described their first meeting to IFC's audience, he slipped and almost said "Grizzly Man" instead of "Elephant Man," which seemed somewhat symbolic of the recent alliance.)

Though the film opens with the words “David Lynch presents,” Herzog stated that Lynch had no artistic participation in the film, but rather “ignited the match and threw it.” Herzog said his and Lynch's films “touch each other,” even “dance together,” but are, however, very different. My Son’s style is a complete marriage of Lynch's and Herzog’s best and worst eccentricities, including the use of a tuxedo clad midget in the middle of the woods and two pet flamingos, which are referred to by Shannon's character Brad as “eagles in drag.”
 

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My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done has a very limited release and is now playing at the IFC Center. Watch the trailer.