Posts

Showing posts with the label werner herzog

INTO THE INFERNO - REVIEW

Image
After taking a general, critical look at the pros and cons of the Internet in Lo & Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World , which also came out this year, Werner Herzog turns back to nature to focus on volcanoes. Released through Netflix, Into The Inferno  presents itself as sort of a follow-up to Herzog's own documentary Encounters At The End Of The World since that's where he first met volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer who appears in and co-directs this latest outing. The film takes a look specifically at active volcanoes and how their isolated life affects the people living around them. The real theme explored here being the spiritual impact left by nature and Man's need to attach a higher meaning to his mysterious, timeless surroundings. Typically, the documentary isn't predictable as Herzog travels the world not only looking at volcanoes themselves, capturing beautiful images in the process, but also reflecting on significant events in history relating to

LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD - REVIEW

Image
Director Werner Herzog takes a general yet focused look at the pros and cons of the internet in new documentary Lo And Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World . Told through a series of chapters, Lo And Behold is exactly what you'd expect from a Werner Herzog documentary as the soothing-voiced filmmaker learns about the internet's origins before exploring the impressive technological and scientific advances made possible by being connected to a worldwide network but also the people negatively affected by this seemingly boundless medium. Not one to really impose his own opinions on the audience, Herzog makes sure to show different sides of the equation and leaves the professionals to do the talking when it comes to the more technical stuff. We see how education can reach a greater number of people nowadays but we also see how insensitive anonymous people online can be, we touch upon robotics and space travel but we also meet young gamers dealing with addiction whose lives o

LIFE ITSELF - REVIEW

Image
The loss of Roger Ebert in 2013 was a blow to anyone who knew him or respected his work. Whether you agreed with his reviews or not, here was a man who loved and understood film, who had a true passion for cinema and who inspired many, including this reviewer, to think further about the medium and show it the respect and attention it deserves. With Life Itself , Ebert himself receives the respect and attention he deserves. The film follows the man himself as he goes through rehabilitation in hospital, occasionally answering questions from the film's director Steve James. It's a tough watch as the documentary doesn't sugar-coat anything and Ebert often looks like he's in a great deal of pain but the fact he perseveres the way he does and still finds the strength to keep a sense of humour really shows an amount of courage that's hugely inspirational. The months leading up to the iconic critic's death are very emotional and heartbreaking as Chaz Ebert, Roger

THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER - REVIEW

Image
Werner Herzog famously cast then non-actor Bruno S. in this bizarre little film about a man who grew up being kept locked up in a dark basement who suddenly finds himself released in a small town. The townspeople don't really know what to make of him, treating him like a prisoner, an animal and a child at various points until a well-off man takes him under his wing and teaches him the ways of the world, even ultimately going as far as attempting to introduce him to high society. The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser begins almost like a silent film as we get a glimpse of Hauser's day-to-day life pre-freedom. It's sinister, odd and remains a bit of a mystery for the rest of the film as a man dressed in black releases him randomly then occasionally pops back into his life, following him like some kind of lingering shadow of doom. While not a documentary, Herzog doesn't over-stylise the film making it's Plato's cave-style plot more palatable and Kaspar Hauser's c