Werner Herzog films: c/d/s/d

I've read Herzog on Herzog, it's amazing.

I've also watched both Kaspar Hauser and Hearts of Glass with the director commentary on. He is amazingly entertaining.

Rather than say exactly what I think about the veracity of "Incident at Loch Ness," let me tell you a story. A few years ago at the Telluride Film Festival, Herzog invited me to his hotel room to see videos of two of his new documentaries. One was about the Jesus figures of Russia, men who dress, act and speak like Jesus and walk through the land being supported by their disciples. The other was about a town whose citizens believe that a city of angels exists on the bottom of a deep lake and can be seen through the ice at the beginning of winter. Wait too long, and the ice is too thick to see through. Crawl onto the ice too soon, and you fall in.

Herzog has made many great documentaries in his career, and I was enthralled by both of these. He's a master of the cinema, with an instinct for the bizarre and unexpected. After I saw the films, he said he only had one more thing to tell me: Both of the documentaries were complete fiction.

Search God's Angry Man, I finally tracked down a copy of it.

Going to see Incident at Loch Ness today.

I just bought "Land of Silence and Darkness!"

"FCC MONKEY BAND"

or

http://www.generalhaberdashery.com/links/fccband.wmv

I've never seen a bad Herzog film.

yes, I WILL

OK

Actually, the film was Gates of Heaven. W.H. Eats His Shoe is like the greatest film trailer of all time.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005YKXQ/qid=1105315485/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-4554796-5040927?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

"Kinski says [the jungle] is full of erotic elements. It's not so much erotic, but full of obscenity. Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotic here. I see fornication and asphyxiation and choking, fighting for survival and growing and just rotting away. Of course there's a lot of misery, but it's the same misery that's all around us. The trees are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don't think they sing; they just screech in pain. Taking a close look at what's around us, there is some sort of harmony. It's the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder. But when I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. It's not that I hate it. I love it. I love it very much. But I love it against my better judgment."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Burden of Dreams: this May, on Criterion!

xpost We tried to watch that one as well and found it equally unbearable. I bailed after maybe 20 minutes, I think my wife lasted a little longer but couldn't make it until the end.

Where the green ants dream is great but it is in the shadow of Fitzcarraldo (and no Klaus Kinski)

xpost to me (The July narrated one, tbc)

I feel like I have seen more than my fair share of volcano documentaries, they all kind of blend in to another.

Miranda July's voice is like an ointment seeping down your leg.

lol

My wife was gifted a year-long subscription to that Master Class series and I actually watched a few of the Werner Herzog episodes/talks. Pretty fun, pretty interesting.

It’s not her voice specifically for me — it’s the information/content she chooses to highlight and the twee nature of all of her output. I’ve avoided her work so far because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it — idk why I thought this volcano movie would be any different? Joke’s on me!

hadnt realized Fire of Love was a miranda july joint, glad i dodged that bullet

It's not, though. It was written and directed by Sara Dosa. July is the narrator.

July brings her patented bored treacle vibe to play in the enunciation tho, hard to get past it.
the greater sin imo is that we get all this ephemera and personal life presumption but minimal volcanology and meaningful science. after an hour i was still like "yes but WHY are they running around next to volcanos like suicidal idiots"

real q - did MJ write the narration or did she read a script written by a different person and/or the director?

honestly for me it was the nature of the movie and the googly-eyed "aw @ their volcanic love" angle/lack of substance about wtf they were doing (as forks describes) that didn't appeal to me. it felt insipid when we're talking life and death and lava.

herzog himself is certainly no stranger to imitation and parody; i happen to enjoy his narration but i can see how easy it would be to mock it. that two such opposing narrators could even exist is somewhat amusing to me.

people who dislike miranda july are rong imo :(

maybe -- i will admit that i am unable to enjoy a certain type of wholesome entertainment.

know what earthly substance dgaf about your enduring volcanic love for each other? churning lava

ha, yes.
also the pseudo-Wes Anderson direction did this no favors with its manneristic obviousness; killed most of my interest in the leads dead in its tracks

> herzog himself is certainly no stranger to imitation and parody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y_kfWUCFDQ

july ain't anymore twee than harry crews

that's a weird comparison and i'm a big fan so i'm gonna say no and post this video of crews explaining how to cook a possum as proof otherwise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5kjm9IuIMc

we watched some shorts last night. Last Word was easily my favorite because the music was amazzzzzing. Precautions Against Fanatics runner up bc it was so quietly funny.