This Must Be the Place (2011)

Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino | 118 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Eve Hewson, Kerry Condon, Harry Dean Stanton, Joyce Van Patten, David Byrne, Olwen Fouere, Shea Whigham, Liron Levo, Simon Delaney, Heinz Lieven, Seth Adkins, Peter Carey

This Must Be the Place by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (“Il divo”) is about the eccentric Cheyenne (Sean Penn), who was once a successful pop star. He no longer makes music because of a traumatic history with a few young fans. However, he still dresses as if he has to go on stage right away. His life is empty, he spends his days in a luxurious and design-furnished estate in Dublin. There he lives with his wife Jane (Frances McDormand), who is his counterpart in everything and who has both feet firmly on the ground. Jane works for the fire department. Cheyenne trades on the stock exchange, is mildly depressed and hangs out in malls with a young girlfriend (Eve Hanson).

Then comes a message from America that his Jewish father has passed away. He was severely traumatized by an event in a concentration camp during World War II. He spent the rest of his life looking for the perpetrator. Cheyenne decides to continue his father’s search for the apparently still alive Nazi criminal.

‘This Must Be the Place’ then develops according to the fixed patterns of a road movie: Cheyenne encounters the usual colorful and picturesque figures during his search. As a more philosophically driven angel of vengeance, he goes on a quest with famed Nazi hunter Mordecai Midler (Judd Hirsch).

The film is characterized by very fine camera work. The most beautiful film locations that you can imagine in such road movies are reviewed: photogenic images of New York, the emptiness of the Utah desert, the famous remote gas stations and the well-known American diners with long bars. The whole ensures superior cinematic images.

‘This Must Be the Place’ is somewhere between a drama and a comedy. The developments are sometimes humorous and the dialogues dryly comical at times. However, the whole is more of a collection of individual scenes linked together than a coherent story. Sean Penn’s acting is strong, the soundtrack is fine with music (and personal) performance by David Byrne. The storyline has unfortunately not come to fruition and some started sidelines remain completely undeveloped in the story. Images of the Holocaust are incorporated into the story somewhat forcibly. In any case, the events develop at a particularly slow pace: here too it is true that cutting into the material present apparently takes a lot of effort. The film suffers somewhat from its duration: of the 118 minutes, fifteen minutes could have been done without doing too much damage in the things that don’t happen.

For the enthusiast of the genre and especially the fans of Sean Penn, his acting performance leaves enough to enjoy ‘This Must Be the Place’. Slightly bizarre and absurd as a comedy with a black edge with lots of beautiful imagery.