Werner Herzog films: c/d/s/d

saw land of silence & darkness for the first time recently, its great

I still haven't seen, but have access to:

Where the Green Ants Dream
The Wild Blue Yonder
Wheel of Time

any of 'em essential viewing?

None of them are what I'd call essential...would maybe choose "Green Ants" but "The Wild Blue Yonder" is probably the worst of his that I've seen, though I haven't seen "Invincible".

i love wheel of time

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/04/28/great-moments-in-werner-herzog-voiceovers.aspx

Saw "Cave Of Forgotten Dreams" in 3D last night. Was pretty amazing. I went with someone who'd already seen it in 2D and she said it was a totally different experience. It really feels like you are in these caves. It's pretty incredible. He uses a mix of lo-fi and hi-fi video, which is great, because it sounds like they were only allowed in the caves a very limited time. You have a number of different ways of looking at them. The 3D reproductions of the ancient sculpture art was jaw-dropping. The spear-throwing demonstration was great, and kind of funny as a nod to 3D gimmickry. But completely appropriate for the movie!

Caveat: Some of the 3D was terrible (but these parts only lasted a few seconds usually), and at some parts I think he just toned down the 3D effect altogether. But I think the importance of the subject matter more than makes up for it, and I'd rather support innovative efforts in 3D documentary than something like Transformers 3D.

The ten uninterrupted minutes that he lets you spend just in the cave, slowly looking around, MUST be seen in 3D.

i saw it in 3d and 2d and the 3d vers is way better

though to be honest, by the end i was really worn out on the lingering slow pans of the cave paintings

Maybe you saw it one too many times.

well tbh i walked out of the 2d version like 25 mins in and asked for my money back

caves > paintings

yeah the stuff where they were showing like the calcified cave floor was great

Plus the calcified bear skulls.

this movie was mostly enthralling, as much despite as because of werner herzog.

by this movie i mean 'cave of forgotten dreams'

sick of herzog's flaky mouth-agape psuedo-philosophizing.

'tell me how you discovered the cave.'

'well, we were scaling this cliff when--'

'is this where the human soul was born?'

some of that stuff was hilarious though, so i think it worked out.

it was def lol in 'encounters at the end of the world' too

'can penguins become insane' *reclusive autist penguinologist grows visibly agitated by question*

some of that stuff was hilarious though, so i think it worked out.

― (.づ☀‿☀)づ ~da post-modernist struggle~ (.づ☀‿☀)づ (Princess TamTam), Wednesday, June 15, 2011 5:49 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

that's true, but i was enjoying it in a way i don't think herzog intended.

can penguins become insane' *reclusive autist penguinologist grows visibly agitated by question*

― (.づ☀‿☀)づ ~da post-modernist struggle~ (.づ☀‿☀)づ (Princess TamTam), Wednesday, June 15, 2011 6:53 PM

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7kdDeGXUjI

that ridiculous music.

i dunno. i think a guy who puts an iguana in a nic cage movie for no good reason* can't be said to have lost his sense of humor about himself just yet.

*or makes a nic cage movie period.

re. enjoying it in a way herzog didnt intend.

true, but whether self-conscious or not, the 'wernor herzog persona' definitely rubs weirdly against the other aspects of his documentaries

i would be honestly shocked to discover that humor wasnt his main intention with most of this stuff

he was very funny at the q+a i saw him do this past weekend. favorite quote: "i'm not very teutonic, i'm much more bavarian"

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.

yeah i do agree the "straight doc" style clashes oddly with the "oh that's just nutty ol' werner" persona. his older docs seemed less...professional? by which i mean closer to the vibe of his fiction films.

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...