In 2003, Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Hugenard, were killed and eaten by a bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. The naturalist’s tragic end followed 13 years of living in the wilderness, where he studied animals through a quixotic style that traditional scientists deemed dangerous and irresponsible.
It also brought Werner Herzog to the masses. When “Grizzly Man” came out 15 years ago, the eccentric filmmaker was familiar to the arthouse circuit as a member of the German New Wave. His best-known work was released decades earlier, but Herzog continued cranking out idiosyncratic documentaries, mining for poetry in the natural world and humankind alike.
With Treadwell, Herzog found the ideal subject: a wild-eyed obsessive carving a unique path, fully aware that it could lead to self-destruction. The movie is a small wonder of non-fiction commentary, weaving Treadwell’s revealing home videos along with the filmmaker’s own entrancing observations about...
It also brought Werner Herzog to the masses. When “Grizzly Man” came out 15 years ago, the eccentric filmmaker was familiar to the arthouse circuit as a member of the German New Wave. His best-known work was released decades earlier, but Herzog continued cranking out idiosyncratic documentaries, mining for poetry in the natural world and humankind alike.
With Treadwell, Herzog found the ideal subject: a wild-eyed obsessive carving a unique path, fully aware that it could lead to self-destruction. The movie is a small wonder of non-fiction commentary, weaving Treadwell’s revealing home videos along with the filmmaker’s own entrancing observations about...
- 8/12/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
“Movies do not change anything…”Werner Herzog says calmly into the microphone surrounded by the scarlet and black colours of Qtv radio’s studio. The interviewer, Jian Ghomeshi, is momentarily stunned and repeats Herzog’s statement in search of an explanation. Ghomeshi’s surprise is understandable. In front of him sits arguably one of the most respected directors alive today, so much so, his films are considered some of the finest in recent film history by cinema goers and critics alike. However, Herzog’s statement is, as always, no off the cuff remark. He effortlessly articulates his point in his distinct and captivating German accent. The point he makes in regard to one of his more recent films ‘Into the Abyss’ (a film about the death penalty in the United States) is that the notion that films can evoke effective change is exaggerated and change can only come about through political debate and media outlets,...
- 12/17/2012
- by Anders Anglesey
- Obsessed with Film
Werner Herzog's presence in his own films – including the new Cave of Forgotten Dreams – marks him out as a romantic, eager to experience what he's trying to understand
Few film directors seem as directly present in their work as Werner Herzog. Not only does he have an instantly recognisable aesthetic, but unlike most European auteurs of his generation, he has become a familiar face in front of the camera. We are so accustomed to seeing him – playing football with Peruvian indians, arguing with Klaus Kinski, eating his own shoe at Chez Panisse – that we might mistake him for just another "personality", one of the celebrities who parade past at various scales, from cellphone to Times Square, on our screens. Directors are required to be showmen, particularly directors of documentaries, who always have to hustle to finance and screen their work. But Herzog's presence, his insistence on being in the middle of things,...
Few film directors seem as directly present in their work as Werner Herzog. Not only does he have an instantly recognisable aesthetic, but unlike most European auteurs of his generation, he has become a familiar face in front of the camera. We are so accustomed to seeing him – playing football with Peruvian indians, arguing with Klaus Kinski, eating his own shoe at Chez Panisse – that we might mistake him for just another "personality", one of the celebrities who parade past at various scales, from cellphone to Times Square, on our screens. Directors are required to be showmen, particularly directors of documentaries, who always have to hustle to finance and screen their work. But Herzog's presence, his insistence on being in the middle of things,...
- 4/18/2011
- by Hari Kunzru
- The Guardian - Film News
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