2007 documentaryRating: 16/20
Plot: Werner Herzog ventures to the unforgiving landscape of Antartica to discuss humanity's inevitable extinction with philosopher/fork lift drivers and other "professional dreamers."
Herzog captures rare breeds and gives us their stories on our big and small screens. He asks questions that have no answers and then gets answers. "Why is it that a sophisticated animal like a chimpanzee does not take advantage of inferior animals? He could straddle a goat and ride off into the sunset." This, as Herzog says, is not another movie about penguins. It's a movie about mankind dreaming its way straight into extinction and is a profoundly moving, if kind of odd, experience. Some of the photography is stunning, but you can get that sort of thing elsewhere. What this offers is Herzog's unique blend of found art--the ability he has to find the surreal hidden in the mundane--and his philosophical ramblings. His narration, although I could listen to his voice for hours, is at times oppressive. He cuts off one interviewee's story with a "to make a long, drawn-out story short" and another one's with "her story goes on forever." This is a fantastic companion piece to Fata Morgana, and it's cool to see that Herzog's modus operandi hasn't changed all that much in the 35+ years since he made that one. Lots of moments in this one which will require a second viewing, but I loved the interaction with an aloof penguin expert: "I tried to keep the conversation going. 'Dr. Ainly, I read soemwhere that there are gay penguins."
Glad to have you back, and I hope all is better. As a gesture of goodwill I should agree wholeheartedly with your review, but...
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very mixed bag. Some of the footage was great (ironically I loved the penguin stuff) and some of the interviews with the quirky subjects were interesting to a point, but Herzog really becomes annoying. It's as if he really had nothing else going on and in his boredom he decided to do a half-assed doc about Antarctica. You were spot-on to mention the value of some of the questions he asks. I wanted less narration and also more control of his interviews. Many went on way to long with no other point than to say that the people were quirky and societal outcasts (especially the Mayan/Indian hand-dude). For every beautiful visual there was something overlong or boring. Finally he tries to wrap all the loose ends together in a pontificating bow at the end. I think I would have enjoyed this movie just as much with the volume turned off. The one thing I give Herzog credit for is that I believe there should be a great documentary made about Antarctica. Sadly, this isn't it. A 12.
Have you seen any other Herzog stuff (narrative or other docs)? Grizzly Man?
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if Herzog is sort of an acquired taste. There's a certain cadence that I imagine would drive a lot of people up a wall. Herzog's documentaries, to me, are always about the loose ends and his style often focuses on stuff that a lot of people really wouldn't care about. I love how he drifts, as if he's just on this little journey and doesn't really care if he ends up anywhere as long as he's intrigued. It's nice that he's asked us to come along with him, but I'm not even sure he cares all that much about us. I also love how there's something a little off about his documentaries. Nobody else makes 'em like he does.
Having said that, I'm wondering why I gave this a 16 less than 12 hours after I wrote this. I could have sworn that I gave it my standard documentary score of 14. I'm pretty sleepy.
My dad's doing really well, by the way.
to make a long, drawn-out story short -
ReplyDeletei thought that was the funniest moment in any herzog film, seriously....
and the chimpanzee line as well... have you listened to any henry kaiser? dude is pretty awesome...
the weird shit below the ice was rad too
I heard some stuff Kaiser did with Fred Frith that was really cool. I think I have a solo Kaiser thing, but I couldn't tell you anything about it or where it's even at.
ReplyDeleteI LOL'd both times Herzog interrupted...I think I LOL'd harder when he said, "Her story was endless."
You've got to see 'The Grand,' the improvisational poker comedy just for the Herzog scenes. The movie isn't very good at all, but he's hilarious.
yeah and then he went off to paraphrase the guy in a hilariously condescending way. i think they have The Grand on the streaming net flix deal, I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteI think the 16 fired me up a little. I have seen the excellent "Grizzly Man" (where another idiot in Alaska gets what he deserves... ouch), and I saw a tongue-in-cheek doc on the Loch Ness monster that I really enjoyed...I forget the name. I think he is very entertaining and I like how he speaks, but I just thought this movie was looser and less inspired. I also thought some of the underwater scenes were very cool visually, but could have used better narration.
ReplyDeleteAnother idiot in Alaska getting what he deserves? Yeah, definite ouch...way to beat a guy while he's down. Well, dead.
ReplyDeleteI didn't care much for 'Incident at Loch Ness' even though it had a lot of things going for it (not directed by Herzog though): 1) Herzog was great in it. 2) I like mockumentaries. 3) It had funny moments. 4) Crispin Glover cameo. I liked the first half of that movie much better than the second half, if I'm remembering correctly.
Tell ya what, Cory...I'll watch 'Jaws' (probably this weekend) and you can run out and find my favorite movie, 'Stroszek'...then, we can compare notes. Well, it's one of the movies I've called my favorite before...deal?
Absolutely. I have never heard of "Stroszek", but I'll watch it this week. Some day when you come up with your top 119 I plan on watching any that I haven't seen.
ReplyDeleteTwo other things: is it OK to use a " on titles? You always use a '.
Also, I'm happy to hear about your dad.
Thanks! My dad has another surgery this weekend (or early next week), but everything should be fine after that. Sort of a scary thing, but I was just amazed at how normal he looked following a "major heart attack"...
ReplyDeletere: my misuse of quotes...movie titles should be underlined or italicized. I could use the HTML tag (see below this "leave your comment" box) to italicize but I'm just too lazy. Too lazy in emails, too. You can't use quotes for movie titles because they're major works. I've always used the single quote which you would never use for titles of any kind. I guess it's my way of saying, "Yes, I know I can't use quotes for titles of movies...see? That's why I used the single quote."
None of that makes sense.
There's going to be a lot on the top 119 list that you'll have to search for...I'll make sure of that!