Best Werner Herzog Film

Saw the documentary (about him) tonight--pretty good. His ubiquity as a pop-culture figure was news to me. I still haven't seen Aguirre. It's on Tubi or FilmRise right now--may finally just give in and watch it on TV.

He was always a name director, and Roger Ebert championed him throughout his career, but I want to say he became a true pop culture figure after Grizzly Man became a pretty big success. Before that movie came out, I don't think people would know him unless they had an active interest in film culture. It probably helped that he's in the film and his distinctive voice provides the narration - it became something people latched on to, and then of course they'd find out about his crazy history as a filmmaker and suddenly he's up there with David Lynch as this unusual auteur everyone found so fascinating.

I was thinking of the two or three animated clips in the film, including The simpsons. And appearing on what looked to be some online Henry Rollins interview show (which I wouldn't wish on anybody).

The docmentary presents Grizzly Man as a turning point, yes. Only ever saw it once, remember it as disturbing and exasperating.

I think it was particularly this part that did it. His delivery is classic, so flat and definitive.

I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWYaC5YBaJk

He basically says the same thing in Burden of Dreams, which reappeared in My Best Fiend. For me at least the later documentary def was a step at making him a character.

Encounters At The End Of The World was his next doc after Grizzly Man and it gave us this classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWH_9VRWn8Y

That gets some attention in the documentary. What they really toss off is everything between Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo. All you get from Stroszek is two stills without commentary.

That’s his best stretch! No one gives Heart of Glass any love, even less for Woyzeck. Herzog’s humanism gets overlooked for all the “LOL wacky they’re midgets” and “Kinski go off king” and the “Herzog Plays Herzog” of the last couple decades.

And the 70s documentaries might as well not exist. Land of Silence and Darkness is so great.

Land of Silence and Darkness and Fata Morgana in the same damned year!

an acquaintance of mine part of a herzog film once and he said he is actually just the best guy, and a very inspiring person to work for.

I quite liked The Twilight World when I read it the other week.

I recently watched Herzog's film about Gertrude Bell, starring Nicole Kidman and James Franco. If there is ever an updated poll that includes Herzog's films since 2007 I will definitely not vote for Queen of the Desert. It's bad.

His movies with Bruno are absolutely some of my favorites. I adore that guy and could watch him forever.

Haven’t seen the queen of the Desert one yet, I have an unopened blu-ray

The Queen of the Desert has nice location shots, lighting, costumes - all the things that an experienced professional crew can bring to a film. It treats arabs as worthy human beings rather than cartoons, which is good. But the script leans hard into schmaltzy romance and the dialogue isn't much better than your basic Hallmark Channel soap opera. iow, it's bad, but sort of tolerable for the travelogue elements.

I am going to anticipate the HELL out of Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"

otm