Although "Don't Come Knocking" is Wim Wenders first collaboration with Sam Shepard since the duo created "Paris, Texas" over 20 years ago, the film reminded me more of Wenders own "The State of Things" as well as Dennis Hopper's "The Last Movie" with a little bit of Lynch thrown in.

Shepard, who wrote the script with Wenders and who stars in the film, plays Howard, an ageing movie star working on a Western, which seems to be his wont. One day, which just so happens to happen at the beginning of the film, Howard takes a horse from the set and rides off without telling anyone. What begins is a journey of self-discovery that takes him from Utah to Las Vegas and then to Butte, Montana.

Howard seems tailor made for Shepard, so it should be little surprise that he does an absolutely perfect job of bringing forth the character. His rugged, grizzled looks suit Howard's facade while his quiet, wordless approach to acting evokes Howard's psychic withdraw and inner confusion.

Shepard is supported by an amazing cast that includes Gabriel Mann, Eva Marie Saint, Sarah Polley, Jessica Lange Fairuza Balk and Tim Roth. The truly remarkable moments in the film come from Polley, whose innocence and inner-peace are shot perfectly by Wenders. Polley looks like angelic when backlit by sunshine in many of the shots. Roth, meanwhile, provides his usual quirkiness but it works so amazingly well in the film, not only for comic relief but for making the film a cohesive whole.

The music here is wonderful with Mann providing a young local musician who could easily share the bill with the White Stripes and the Killers. The flavor this and the other pop songs give the film are just the right touch. This music, a throwback to 60's country pop, underscores the themes of the movie where ageing Howard confronts his past and his future in a whirlwind of immediacy coupled with surprise and regret that are as emotionally harrowing as any song by Johnny Cash or Jack White. In fact, a song made up about Howard by Mann's character with his young co-stars becomes the films coda in a light-hearted yet emotionally charged way.

Through all of this, Wenders sure hand and artistic eye guide us with the passion of a filmmaker who refuses to limit himself and who creates images, stories and soundscapes that not only electrify his audience but also refuses to talk down to them. Wenders is not pretentious not pedantic and "Don't Come Knocking" offers us his best film in many years.

Notes:

Also with minor appearances by Julia Sweeny, George Kennedy, and Kurt Fuller.

Original music by T-Bone Burnett. Mann indeed performs his own songs here. The title song is by Bono and Andrea Corr.

Filmed in Montana, Nevada and Utah.

The picture of Polley's character with her mother is actually Polley and her real mother Diane, who was a big Shepard fan. She died in 1990.

Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes where it debuted. The film opened in Germany in August of 2005. Sony Pictures Classics is debuting the film in U.S. arthouses on 3/17/2005 just days after its first North American screening at SXSW,

Viewed at SXSW in March of 2006 with Wenders and Shepard in attendance where they did a Q&A. Notes on this are on the Day 2 page of the 2006 SXSW coverage.

Report Card

Script: A-

Acting: A+

Cinematography\Lighting: A+

Special Effects\Make Up: A+

Music: A+

Final Grade: A+