Yesterday was Werner Herzog's birthday. Oddly, when i woke up not knowing it was his birthday i decided that i wanted to start my morning digging a bit more into his recent blu-ray collection that was released last year, of which there were still a lot of unwatched films. I ended up watching four Herzog films, but it wasn't until i had started the 2nd that i even realized it was his birthday. I guess somewhere deep down i knew?
I watched Aguirre, The Wrath of God for the first time. Great to finally see it, Klaus Kinski was great, and I could definitely see how Apocalypse now was influenced by it. It also allowed me to check another film off the Sight and Sound top 250 films of all time list, something I'll talk about more in a future post.
Even Dwarfs Started Small was up next and it took me a little while to get my barrings. I was mistakenly under the impression that it was a Documentary, which it definitely is not. A curiously of sorts, and something I'm glad i watched, but something I'm likely to revisit (unlike Aguirre).
Third Herzog of the day was Fata Morgana, which is a documentary, but a meandering one. I struggle with documentaries like this, the ones that have beautiful and interesting shots, but the connection between them feels transitory. Maybe some day i'll warm to documentaries of this type (I wish i could love Chris Marker's Sans Soliel, which i also struggle with), but for now I'm better off with things like's Herzog's amazing Cave Of Forgotten Dreams.
Last up was Fitzcarraldo, like Aguirre, a Herzog film I've always wanted to see. More great work from Klaus Kinski. Interesting to see the same actor as a much different character traveling down the same Amazonian rivers. As Herzog used to say, everyone should pull a boat over a mountain once in their lives.
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