Don't Come Knocking - 6

Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard team up again for this film. Although this film does not come anywhere close to Paris, Texas. This film is about a wayward actor (Howard -played by Shepard), who stars in cowboy-westerns. He runs away for some peace of mind and then finds out he has a son. The best parts of the film are the underlying themes of the expanse of the west in America, and the lost sense of home that American culture is looking for. The film does not make the flaw that all is solved by trying. Rather healing the past is a long and troubling process, that changes people, and requires taking on the pain. This film is also about family, which Wenders mentions in an interview in the extra features. Howard is really attempting a reconciliation with family, longing to be known. He takes a risk, which is really the only thing he can do. Shepard says this about family (outside of the film): "It's one of the great tragedies of our contemporary life in America, that families fall apart. Almost everybody has that in common." This film is Shepard's attempt to turn that tragedy into comedy (in the classical sense).