Rated: MA15+
Directed by: Ant Timpson
Based on an Idea by: Ant Timpson
Story by: Toby Harvard
Starring: Elijah Wood, Stephen McHattie, Garfield Wilson, Madeleine Sami, Martin Donovan, Michael Smiley, Simon Chin, Ona Grauer, Ryan Beil.
Based on the idea from William Shakespeare, ‘The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children,’ Come to Daddy has city boy, Norval (Elijah Wood) dragging a silver suitcase through the woods to visit a father who abandoned him when he was five years old.
Dragging his suitcase, he loses his hat.
It’s the beginning of his exposure as being, ‘Full of shit.’
He knocks on the door, ‘Dad, it’s me. Norval.’
And I wondered how many layers there would be to Norval, to the story, as the mystery of this, Dad becomes more obscure.
What we get is a violent kooky comedy that skirts the line between mystery and weird, the screenplay like a story written by a uni student with father issues. Which is fine, but it translated like a bad dream rather than a story for a movie because of the many red herrings.
Elija Wood as Norval does a lot of the heavy lifting, being the only ‘normal’ character in the film.
Including a cop describing liars as having ‘raisin eyes’, and a coroner who has ‘no filter’ and no real role in the film. But I guess that’s true to life, the random strangers that make an appearance, then exit.
I don’t want to give too much away as there are unexpected turns making the film feel original.
But there are more strange moments as the mystery of this unpredictable and alcoholic father are revealed, that don’t quite add up, taking away the already tenuous grasp on that suspension of reality.
To add to that strangeness of gore and obscure, the scenery and setting is beautiful; the beach house, a stilted house overlooking the sea, my favourite part of the film, and aptly described by Norval as, ‘A UFO from the 1960s’. Cool, right?
And some moments are kinda cool and funny – I say skirting, because the film doesn’t completely cross the line into the bizarre, but there just isn’t enough to stack-up making, Come to Daddy more puzzling than surprising.