Werner Herzog films: c/d/s/d

the newer ones are like someone hiring godard to do voiceovers for 60s network tv news docs or something

yeah i'm going in the wrong direction by this. i'm entertained by his silly persona and questions, but half the time watching his recent movies i think, 'wouldn't a pbs-style doc on this topic be just as good and twice as informative?'

don't feel this way about most of dude's films, just a few recent ones.

― by another name (amateurist), Wednesday, June 15, 2011 7:15 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah i mean, maybe twice as informative, and probably twice as boring (to me) - i need a little kookiness to keep me awake during some dry documentary about ancient dudes scribbling on walls

see that shit is fascinating! i would have liked to know more about what he know about the cultures of these prehistoric communities, what the land was like then, etc. you know, traditional explication. because if the tradeoff is just getting to hear herzog ask questions about the soul of man etc. i mean i feel like i'm not really getting my money's worth.

fwiw land of silence and darkness is one of the most powerful and unsettling films i've ever seen. it's also beautifully constructed, which you couldn't say about the recent films, which structurally speaking are all over the place. one other reason i don't find them very satisfying.

what WE know

Was mad when I found out the theater I went to (BAM Rose) did NOT have 3D.

Anyway, I mostly liked this. Cliched thing to say about him, I guess, but he seems to be almost as interested in the people who are interested in the subject matter as he is in the subject matter (or, occasionally, interested in being bored by them -- e.g. the hilarious hand-pan away from the perfumist when he started digressing about his own dull personal achievements).

Parallels to Grizzly Man in this way, although he's far less derisive of the scientist studying the cave than of Timothy Treadwell (probably because cave paintings don't eat people). He's sort of a fallen romantic -- he doesn't believe in things but he is still reluctantly excited by other people who believe in things.

I saw this in a room with Herzog - he's v. aware of his humor. he's a funny dude.

Might as well post this here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3xFZ0A15Bg

oh boy, ppl looking for "informative" filmmaking.

was srsly dying in the theater when he was talking about the penguin wandering off-course to suicide

yeah, when this happened at the Film Forum I comforted myself with "Complacent hipster dicks are doing it in other cities, I bet."

was srsly dying in the theater when he was talking about the penguin wandering off-course to suicide.

were you at my Tree of Life screening? hate you ppl.

was srsly dying in the theater when he was talking about the penguin wandering off-course to suicide

yeah, when this happened at the Film Forum I comforted myself with "Complacent hipster dicks are doing it in other cities, I bet."

― already president FYI (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, June 15, 2011 10:46 PM Bookmark

There was definitely a moment like this in the Cave of Forgotten Dreams showing I was at -- something he said that sounded extremely self-serious but just made everyone lose it. Wish i could remember the line.

was srsly dying in the theater when he was talking about the penguin wandering off-course to suicide

this bit was hilarious and i assumed it was supposed to be. love herzog, but dude cracks me up.

yeah I really don't get being mad at people who chuckle at Herzog - it's a totally understandable reaction. fight the real theater enemy - talkers and texters.

yeah i'm going in the wrong direction by this. i'm entertained by his silly persona and questions, but half the time watching his recent movies i think, 'wouldn't a pbs-style doc on this topic be just as good and twice as informative?'

― by another name (amateurist), Wednesday, June 15, 2011 4:15 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

i watch his docs half for the subject matter, half for the filmmaking, and half for the persona. films like little dieter needs to fly, grizzly man and encounters at the end of the world are at least as much about herzog as they are their ostensible subjects. and all the better for it!

for sure

love "lessons of darkness" too

yeah I really don't get being mad at people who chuckle at Herzog

I'm not talking about 'chuckling' but rolling waves of guffaws to rival a Laurel & Hardy audience.

lol

this bit was hilarious and i assumed it was supposed to be.

nothing funnier than cute animals dying a sad and lonely death.

I didn't laugh at that bit because I identified too much with the penguin. ;_;

I don't laugh much at Laurel & Hardy. Herzog is funnier!

You don't like Laurel & Hardy? Right...

I don't guffaw at L&H comedies, no. Prefer Leslie Nielsen.

"Complacent hipster dicks are doing it in other cities, I bet."

― already president FYI (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, June 15, 2011 10:46 PM

sorry bout ur complacent dick

*boot in ass*

xp -- no wait, both

guffaws @ stodgy bitter hipster

herzog ABSOLUTELY is doing some schtick here and he's very much aware of his own hilariousness
dude made a film about eating his shoe for fuck's sake

les blank made that film but yeah

There was a LOT of laughing in the cinema when I saw this. The fur-wearing dude badly playing the prehistoric flute, the rubbish attempts to throw a spear, the archaeologist how used to work in a circus etc. Werner's more interested in people than caves and that worked to the detriment of the subject matter, I think. COFD spent most of it's time telling you about people who studied these caves, or telling shaggy dog stories about albino alligators. Good film-making, but is it good documentary making? If a documentary is enjoyable, does it matter if it's not particularly insightful?

He makes essays, not documentaries. He's not going for laughs ALL the time, but some of the audiences seem to be.

Werner's more interested in people than caves and that worked to the detriment of the subject matter

The whole reason he's in the caves is presumably their role in human history.

Sure, but he could have explored that more. Fair point about him making essays rather than docs tho, I guess that frees him from any requirement for objectivity.

nothing funnier than cute animals dying a sad and lonely death.

― The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, June 16, 2011 8:12 AM

it wasn't the death part so much as the unknowing penguin scampering off like its on a vision quest, and then the workers told to stand still and don't disturb the already confused penguin as it walks by, as if turning the fucking thing around is going to make the ecosystem collapse. add werner's questioning on top and its a funny moment. on the other hand if your audience treated the entire film like a knee-slapping yukfest then it sux 2 b u in nyc!

He's sort of a fallen romantic -- he doesn't believe in things but he is still reluctantly excited by other people who believe in things.
The whole reason he's in the caves is presumably their role in human history.

Encounters and Grizzly were certainly both more about looking at the crazy awesome people who choose to study this stuff than the stuff itself. Which is something i really enjoyed, and probably made it all much more interesting to watch than some narrator rattling off facts about geology.

If you pick up a book on cave paintings you are getting scientific conjectures -- highly educated guesses but guesses nonetheless -- about what it all means, why it all happened. You don't really learn much about the person behind the conjecture, which is why his films are so valuable. By putting a personal touch on the science of the study, it lends a personal touch to the caves themselves. I think it's fantastic.

i am SURE i've told this story (and probably on this thread) before but it's my Werner story and I like it and it supports the "he's got a sense of humor about this" point:

saw grizzly man's US premiere at the Museum of Natural History and Werner, Treadwell's ex girlfriend ("you must never listen to this") and a bear expert who happened to be a bear mauling victim (face was all messed up) were on a post show panel. During the Q&A after the show, some plucky kid asked werner "What's the point of this movie?" and Werner, with no pause and totally deadpan, replies "What's the point of children."

The whole reason he's in the caves is presumably their role in human history.

― already president FYI (Dr Morbius), Thursday, June 16, 2011 9:50 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah, but asking questions like 'is this where the human soul is born?' isn't likely to shed much light on that subject. i don't mind him paying attention to the scientists--i like that part--but there's not much of a strong sense of method or structure. he loses the opportunity to say more about the scientists or about the paintings the more he indulges (his admittedly amusing) schtick.

xpost haha werner herzog win

the crowd cracked up btw and he did not elaborate further

bear mauling victim (face was all messed up)

his name is Barrie Gilbert
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/53264168.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DIWSAsset%26k%3D2%26d%3D77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FD2808D2857B1B4F596AED59CB9FAFE9D86B1E7F8C830B462BF06BF04B24B4128C

meh, here:
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/53264168.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FD2808D2857B1B4F596AED59CB9FAFE9D86B1E7F8C830B462BF06BF04B24B4128C

here's the story:
http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story/When-Bears-Attack-What-to-do-if-you-meet-bear-in/HSu19ZwN70WPfmIAEM-XkQ.cspx

"I'm quite convinced if i had collapsed and become neutral then I would have no longer been a threat to that bear. He might have grabbed me by the back and thrown me twenty feet or something, but it would give up pretty quickly because its fear would subside. It would say this is something that stumbled on to me and I'm gonna get outta here, which the bear eventually did. A surprised bear is an angry bear, and an angry bear is a dangerous bear. So don't surprise them. Don't start the chain you know?""

Good advice in just about any situation

I now believe the key to a successful WH impersonation is pronouncing "go-ink"

"Don't start the chain you know?"

i am hearing this in the voice of ice-t for some reason. ice-t being a well-known expert on bear safety.

fwiw land of silence and darkness is one of the most powerful and unsettling films i've ever seen.

Yes, totally underrated film of his. As far as the humour qualities of his films, I can't imagine that 'is it supposed to be funny?' would get a straight answer from him, nor should it.

there's actually a video of him out there where he says he's funnier than eddie murphy

I now believe the key to a successful WH impersonation is pronouncing "go-ink"

― already president FYI (Dr Morbius), Thursday, June 16, 2011 1:40 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark

he is terribly difficult to impersonate, for me anyway - which seems weird since he has such a distinct way of speaking that i can easily imagine in my head

whenever I try I usu get Arnold

nothing funnier than cute animals dying a sad and lonely death.

― The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, June 16, 2011 5:12 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

comedy in herzog's poker-faced narrative analysis, not in penguin death (jeez)

i bet that penguin shit was staged.

It was totally heading south.

penguin was clearly a paid actor.

Herzog dressed up as a leopard seal and chased it towards the poll.