all I see here is obscenity

April 29, 2011 11:09 AM

Great Moments in Werner Herzog Voiceovers

Previously

posted by Potomac Avenue (29 comments total)

I'm in a mild panic about how the hell I'm going to find a theater that's showing Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
posted by AugieAugustus at 11:16 AM on April 29, 2011

This is great, but it's missing one of my favorites: the interview with Herzog in Wim Wenders' characteristically excellent travelogue Tokyo-Ga at the top of a building, in which Werner looks out over the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and announces that the earth is now completely defiled by humankind, and swears that he is going to get a rocket ship and go make movies in space, because that is the only place where anyone can still make films that are pure.
posted by koeselitz at 11:17 AM on April 29, 2011 [10 favorites]

I love that he's been on The Boondocks not once but twice (at least—I may have missed an appearance).
posted by Eideteker at 11:24 AM on April 29, 2011

Oh man, I love Herzog's bleak meanderings so much. This is just the thing to put me in the right frame of mind for paper grading, thanks!

Now, all this thread needs is scody.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:29 AM on April 29, 2011

I love that he's been on The Boondocks

Holy crap!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:30 AM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

Speed Dating With Werner Herzog and Special Guest Björk

The man really is so inimitably imitable.
posted by Panjandrum at 11:48 AM on April 29, 2011

"In the Bad Lieutenant, people laugh for than they laugh at a Freddie ... uh, Eddie Murphy comedy." *

This is true. The Bad Lieutenant is often unexpectedly hilarious, while Eddie Murphy films are often quite unfunny.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:48 AM on April 29, 2011

AugieAugustus: "I'm in a mild panic about how the hell I'm going to find a theater that's showing Cave of Forgotten Dreams."

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

I just realized I just missed the two showings they had in San Francisco. GOD DAMN IT METAFILTER
posted by danny the boy at 11:51 AM on April 29, 2011

Also from Grizzly Man:

But once in a while, Treadwell came face-to-face with the harsh reality of wild nature. This did not fit into his sentimentalized view that everything out there was good, and the universe in balance and in harmony.
...
Here I differ with Treadwell. He seemed to ignore the fact that in nature there are predators. I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony but chaos, hostility and murder.
posted by MUD at 12:15 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

I think you meant Speed Dating with Werner Herzog and Bjork
posted by benzenedream at 12:33 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh man do I ever wish Herzog had directed 'Lagerfeld Confidential'.
posted by pxe2000 at 12:34 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Werner Herzog and Holger Czukay have combined to convince me that a gentle, mellifluous German voice can and does exist and that it is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, no matter how bleak or bizarre the content of that speech.
posted by maudlin at 12:39 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Overwhelming and collective murder.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:00 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

"It doesn't surprise me to be shot at."
posted by dhartung at 1:23 PM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

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

I wonder, has anyone introduced Werner Herzog to H.P. Lovecraft?
posted by JHarris at 1:42 PM on April 29, 2011

These were great! Man, does Herzog have some kind of complicated relationship with nature!
posted by troublewithwolves at 1:59 PM on April 29, 2011

i feel like i'm the only one who hates this guy.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 2:05 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

The trees here are in misery, the birdsare in misery - I don't think they sing, they just screech in pain.

Never has there been a better MeFI post. Never will there be. I love this man so much.
posted by xmutex at 2:05 PM on April 29, 2011

troublewithwolves: "Man, does Herzog have some kind of complicated relationship with nature"

I've always read it as being rather matter-of-fact realist.
posted by beerbajay at 2:19 PM on April 29, 2011

As much as I love Herzog, sometimes he lays the German angst on a bit thick and it veers into unintentional self-parody. I'm thinking of the line in Encounters At The End Of The World where he complains that the weather in Antarctica is too sunny when he first arrives; "I hate the sun on my camera lens almost as much as I hate it on my skin," or words to that effect. I mean, that shit is funny.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:27 PM on April 29, 2011

The trees here are in misery, the birds are in misery - I don't think they sing, they just screech in pain.

Just to be clear, neither the trees nor the birds are in misery. And the birds are not screeching in pain.
posted by Dodecadermaldenticles at 2:38 PM on April 29, 2011

unintentional self-parody

I think other links in this thread show that he's not at all unintending the comedy of his pompous declarations.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:50 PM on April 29, 2011

I wonder, has anyone introduced Werner Herzog to H.P. Lovecraft?

Now this is pure genius. I think the del Toro thing didn't pan out (did it?), just imagine what the end result would look like if we could get my boy Werner to direct At the Mountains of Madness.
posted by Dr Dracator at 2:52 PM on April 29, 2011

Just to be clear, neither the trees nor the birds are in misery. And the birds are not screeching in pain.

To be fair, if you were stuck in a jungle with Klaus Kinski, you'd hear screaming all the time as well.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:27 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

It is not a significant bullet.

That is a great and wonderfully evocative line.
posted by Grimgrin at 5:53 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

His character in Julian Donkey Boy is also not to be missed.
posted by tmt at 9:14 PM on April 29, 2011

The man is a bottomless well of awesome. I recently listened to this event, and amidst a whole chain of insane stories and puzzling nuggets of wisdom, he tells a story culminating with him escaping over US/Mexico border to avoid deportation and working as a rodeo clown to make rent. I recently got a copy of Herzog on Herzog, and it makes great bedtime reading. There's a hallucinatory story or deep-ass existential monologue on every page.

Werner Herzog: Original Angsta.
posted by abcde at 10:41 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

I liked Cave of Forgotten Dreams: you might not think that 3D would be necessary, but the paintings are incorporated into deeply undulating surfaces and it really makes a difference.

However: the tight spaces mean it's filmed on a semi-improvised handheld rig, which is a little bit wobbly. I suspect if you're one of the steadicam-makes-me-seasick or 3D-gives-me-headaches people, you might find this movie worse than most.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:28 AM on April 30, 2011

What list of Herzog quotes could be complete without this one, from the description of his Rogue Film School?....

"Censorship will be enforced. There will be no talk of shamans, of yoga classes, nutritional values, herbal teas, discovering your Boundaries, and Inner Growth."

posted by janetplanet at 7:12 AM on May 2, 2011