Stroszek

[GforGroove]

So i finally started my long delay task of watchign Werner Herzog films..
i saw Stroszek and im realy satisfied!!! This is the film that Ian Curtis was watchign when he suicide and well yes, is so hardcore after all that i sort of understand..

This movie really put me thinking. It is a really hard critique all of the idea of the American Dream (as it was before). So now i know the roots of Dogville!! Besides this part, the movie is really moving and Bruno the main character is so sweet and strange at the same time.

I really really recommend this movie.

Anyway, im going to keep going with Herzog, what other films are good of him? He had so many.

[GreenPea]

I LOVED Nosferatu.

That movie you saw seems great, I need to check it out as soon as possible! I feel the identification factor with the main characters is going to be quite big.

[b.miller]

Aguirre: The Wrath of God is really worth watching, for the first shot alone.

[grady]

Fitzacarradlo is another good one to check out. And as you've see more Herzog see the documentary My Best Fiend about the work relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Truly a wonderful documentary and shows how crazy Herzog and Kinski's relationship was when making films as well as in between them.

Oh and as GreenPea mentioned, Nosferatu is worth a viewing as well.

[b.miller]

i feel a bit iffy recomending it because i haven't seen it, but as a companion piece to Fitzacarradlo there's a documentary called Burden of Dreams that's all about the uncanny troubles Herzog had while making the movie. It's highly recomended to me...

[grady]

Originally Posted by b.miller

i feel a bit iffy recomending it because i haven't seen it, but as a companion piece to Fitzacarradlo there's a documentary called Burden of Dreams that's all about the uncanny troubles Herzog had while making the movie. It's highly recomended to me...

Yeah and Criterion just released it on DVD last month too! As a nice little package from Criterion too.

The film could be categorized along with other documentaries about the trials and tribulations of making films like Hearts of Darkness about the making of Apocalypse Now. Or the unmaking/unraveling of a film like Lost in La Mancha about Terry Gilliam's almost painful to watch at times production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote that fell to pieces.

(Poor Terry. I wish it would have all worked out.)

[Strangelet]

Originally Posted by GforGroove

So i finally started my long delay task of watchign Werner Herzog films..
i saw Stroszek and im realy satisfied!!! This is the film that Ian Curtis was watchign when he suicide and well yes, is so hardcore after all that i sort of understand..

This movie really put me thinking. It is a really hard critique all of the idea of the American Dream (as it was before). So now i know the roots of Dogville!! Besides this part, the movie is really moving and Bruno the main character is so sweet and strange at the same time.

I really really recommend this movie.

Anyway, im going to keep going with Herzog, what other films are good of him? He had so many.

Ok Like He's like my God or something....he came to my college for a guest lecture and I met him and I gave him a standing ovation and its been like a turning point in my life. seriously, I know that sounds nutsy crazy stoopid.

You probably found Bruno strange and sweet at the same time because he's a committed sociopath, not unlike the standard person Herzog surrounds himself while making his movies. Stroszek was written specifically for the actor. Herzog made it because he really wanted to cast him in the cannes festival winning Woyszek but Kinski got that role.

As far as strange and sweet goes, you'll have to see The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (also entitled Every Man for Himself And God Against All). Same actor as Stroszek, playing a man who had never seen the light of day until he's an adult. you'll also probably like his narrative in "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" a documentary of a little german boy who wants to fly so badly he ends up joining the navy only to become a POW in Vietnam.

But I think things get really interesting when you explore his movies with Klaus Kinski, his other psychopath. Start off with "My Best Fiend" his recent documentary covering his love/hate relationship over the course of making the five films Kinski is in. Then do aguirre the wrath of god, fitzcarraldo, nosferatu, and woyzek. Avoid cobra verde. Its kind of lame.

Herzog is one of those directors where the more you know about him and his life the more interesting the films are. That's because more so than any other film maker I'm aware of, the line between his own life and his movies is blurry at best.

And just like Stoszek, its always helpful to see his work as not so much linear narratives, but dreams, poems, images.

And finally, if you're not annoyed yet. Read "Herzog on Herzog." A damn fine read by any account.

[winjer]

Also really getting into Herzog recently, as I've been meaning to do. Just watched Aguirre, Wrath of God, and not sure what I'll do next... but planning on watching one tonight.

[GforGroove]

Ok, next one will be Aguirre..
Im super sick so i'll be laid in bed all weekend watching movies.
Probably a Herzog marathon...

[winjer]

Stroszek tonight, and been leafin' through Herzog on Herzog.

Wonderful stuff... such an immensly talented filmmaker...