Film Review: Come To Daddy

Stephen McHattie and Elijah Wood in Come To Daddy.

The output of director Jim Hosking is definitely an acquired taste; those who have seen The Greasy Strangler or An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn either respond to the films’ bizarre, absurdist humour and eschewing of conventional narrative structure, or they don’t. This reviewer falls into the latter category, so it was with a certain level of trepidation that I approached Come to Daddy, directed by one of Strangler’s producers, Ant Timpson, and starring another of Strangler’s producers, Elijah Wood.

Come to Daddy is an infinitely better film than either Strangler or Luff Linn, primarily because unlike those aforementioned films, absurdist humour is used to augment the proceedings rather than forming the film itself. The strangeness remains – for example, a Cop offering to burp to soothe a grieving Elijah Wood or a toilet roll unravelling as it clings to the backside of a thug attempting to murder Wood’s character – but they flavour the film’s dark humour while following a more traditional narrative structure. This structure allows for the gradual and satisfying build-up of dramatic tension, especially in the film’s noir and thriller inspired scenes, rather than repeatedly breaking the tension for the sake of absurdity, as was the case with Strangler.    

Elijah Wood plays Norval Greenwood, a meek and indulged musician who still lives with his Mother in a Beverly Hills Mansion. After receiving a letter of invitation from his estranged father, Brian (played by Stephen McHattie), Norval leaves to stay with Brian in his secluded lakeside cabin in Oregon. While initially welcoming, Brian’s behaviour towards Norval soon becomes threatening and sinister. 

To say any more about the film’s narrative would be to spoil the surprises in store for the viewer, suffice to say the movie does not go where you expect it to and takes on a decidedly macabre and visceral turn. The film is ultimately a darkly humorous exploration of toxic masculinity and fraught father/son relationships, and the idea that manhood is earned through violence. In this, it shares a kinship with the recent film, The Lighthouse along with Straw Dogs and others in the Sam Peckinpah’s canon. 

But does Come to Daddy demonstrate toxic masculinity to be a negative quality? The film takes an ambiguous stance on this issue; on the one hand displaying that toxic behaviour ultimately leads to destruction and death, but also implying that without his violent journey Norval would ultimately have remained the same timid and helpless character at the start of the film. Norval is forced to become extremely inventive and resourceful by the film’s twists, learning to stand on his own two feet, but the movie’s overall tragedy is that had his Father simply remained with the family, Norval could have learnt these lessons earlier. He remains a broken character, even by the film’s conclusion.

On the subject of Norval, Elijah Wood is perfectly cast in the role. With his expressive, guileless blue eyes and boyish features, it is impossible to hide the actor’s inherent decency  – even when he’s drunk dialling a coroner or revealing his part in denying his Mother’s happiness – and he makes the perfect contrast to the aggressively butch and murderous men he encounters throughout the film. Despite his faults, Norval is an infinitely more virtuous figure than the other men depicted, capable of the emotional vulnerability they are not and seeking genuine connection.

However, for all the strengths of the film (of which Wood’s performance is arguably its strongest) it doesn’t have a great deal to say on paternal recklessness or notions of masculinity, and what it does comes across as muddled. The film is primarily designed to be a visceral thrill ride, a crowd-pleaser, and in this, it succeeds greatly. For lovers of macabre, dark humour it delivers an entertaining ride, even if it will leave audiences feeling a bit emotionally empty and intellectually short-chained at its conclusion.

3.5/5

Prior to Australia’s pandemic state of emergency, Come To Daddy was due for a cinema release in April 2020. You can now stream it online at Vimeo On Demand and iTunes.