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In Reply to: "Encounters at the End of the World:" by far, the best documentary posted by tinear on September 25, 2008 at 08:11:58:
As much as I admire Herzog and his soulful body of work, I can't bring to mind a weaker example.
There's little here about the polar environment that we haven't seen before. The people are quirky but so what and who isn't when a camera is on them longer than they expect it to be. There's hardly a memorable character, event or image in the whole film. It simply lacks the director's own usual freshness and eccentricity. The physicist's explanation of a neutrino was so valley-girlish in vocabulary and articulation I really don't find him scientifically credible based on this appearance.
The mostly choral soundtrack was annoying to distraction. At times even inappropriate to the image as if it were the primary thing rather than an enhancement. As if it were trying to bring excitement or gravity or reverence artificially, telling us how to feel rather supporting or confirming the natural arousal of emotion inspired by visual majesty.
The whole thing was a puzzlement; then I saw who produced the movie and did the music - Henry Kaiser. Herzog mentions him early on as the one who introduced the film idea to him.
Henry is a nice man but - and I'm generalizing somewhat here - has used his family fortune and influence to pretty much buy his way through a zelig-life as adventurer and musician. His insights and creative expressions are ultimately mundane. I'm not saying he is deficient in accomplishment but his most notable may be one of endurance, not merit.
Herzog is great but this film is sadly diluted by Kaiser's watery, banal involvement.
I wanted to like this because I look forward always to his next film but Herzog really missed the mark here as far as I'm concerned. In a word, when compared to his other films I'm sorry to say, it's plain.
It has just occurred to me that maybe Herzog intends being deeply ironic. Perhaps he wants to show thru his lense that the deadly, exotic nature of the place, now so thoroughly populated by those who are attracted to it has become so well known that it's not so much different from the rest of the ordinary world. Maybe he edited out that polar Starbucks and McDonalds. Maybe I should rethink this.
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Follow Ups
- A disappointment.... - afilado 19:14:18 09/25/08 (5)
- If the sounds of the seals through the ice, the image of the lone penguin, - tinear 21:25:37 09/25/08 (4)
- Amuse? .... - afilado 22:10:07 09/25/08 (3)
- Actually, I took my young daughter and wife two nights ago for - tinear 14:45:13 09/26/08 (2)
- Tin, you are one of..... - afilado 16:21:59 09/26/08 (1)
- RE: Tin, you are one of..... - tinear 20:19:05 09/26/08 (0)
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