Don't come knocking (2005)

You know what? Films about men who are afflicted with Deep Problems should be restricted to a Dumb & Dumber slapstick comedy formula. There are too many dramas in the world about silent, raging men into the soul of whom the viewer is invited to take a deep, fascinated look. Usually these film heroes ride cars on the lonely highway and usually they have weatherbeaten faces in which we are to count the years as in a log. Without exception, these existential heroes have issues with Women. The existential hero runs away from something. It tends to be some girl with blond hair who works as a waitress in Montana.

Don't come knocking is not Paris, Texas even though these films have lots in common. The guy who just has to disappear. The guy who flees his past. The open road. The glaring neon lights Etc. You immediately recognize this as a Wim Wenders film, from the first frame onwards. He's established his own style, right. But what Paris, Texas has and what Don't come knocking lacks is restraint. The latter film has too much neon, too many 360* camera turns, too much haunting guitar plucking for its own best. These things have now degenerated into clichés. Wim clichés.

The leading man of Don't come knocking is Sam Shepard. He plays an actor who just has to run away from the movie set to deal with his past. He is the eternal troublemaker who starts to feel he has wasted his life. He visits his mom. He tracks down the girl he made pregnant. She is a waitress in Montana ... He wants to be reconciled with his rock n' roll lifestyle indulging kid, but the kid is more interested in being an eternal troublemaker. Just like his old man.

Wender's film was perfectly watchable but it is a failure in several ways. His characters are over the top and appear to be paper dolls rather than real people, the acting is not good and the soundtrack is used in a much too aggressive way. There are a few good scenes, though. One of them involves the waitress. She is not going to make up with the man who left her 30 years ago. She delivers a long speech about why this is impossible. It's a rather good speech even though the delivery by the actress is completely embarrassing. Without it, the film would have become far more sexist than it is now. Another great scene is shot in a neon-drenched hellhole Casino where Sam Shepard staggers around in drunken frenzy.