2020 Directed by Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer
This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.
파이어볼: 외계에서 온 방문객
Imagine operating a resort, and one day instead of a Yelp review, Werner Herzog drives by with his camera just to call your place of business "so godforsaken it makes you want to cry," then leaves.
A consummate showman who would happily bungee jump into Hell with a camera in his hands just for the joy of narrating that footage, Werner Herzog was a legendary filmmaker long before the breakout success of “Grizzly Man” saw him reborn as a living meme — as a morbidly hilarious mouthpiece for the savagery of a world that doesn’t think you’re special. Somewhere between pulling Joaquin Phoenix from a car wreck, brushing off a bullet wound in the middle of an on-camera interview, and coming to the deadpan conclusion that Timothy Treadwell was eaten alive by his bear friends because “the common denominator of the universe is chaos, hostility, and murder,” this titan of New German Cinema became a human…
AFI 2020: film #13
“so, yeah. we’re all stardust”
thought provoking and miraculous, though a little too slow for my taste in docs. one of the biggest takeaways is learning just how much werner herzog loves the movie deep impact
”Chicxulub is a beach resort so godforsaken you want to cry.”
Welcome back to Werner Herzog’s Wild Kingdom
Herzog’s latest set of documentaries are starting to feel like an ongoing television series where he travels the world interviewing various scientists and locals and then pontificates in his own magical way as to what it all must mean.
This latest doc falls into this same rhythm as he hooks up with a British volcanologist named Clive Oppenheimer and together they travel the globe exploring various meteor impacts and wondering about the mysteries of the cosmos.
If it were anybody else, I would have found this material dry and boring, but his hypnotic voice, eccentric speeches and the fantastic shots of nature…
Werner Herzog and Cambridge scientist Clive Oppenheimer go around the world to consider meteorites - from the big one 65 million years ago to the smaller ones that make for nifty paperweights. They talk to scientists, artists, hobbyists, and anyone else affected by meteorites - which, in their view, could be anyone. Structureless and thesis-less like so many Late Herzog documentaries, but in a pleasing way, because all of this is interesting. The directors have respect for the knowledge of everyone they meet, while also displaying healthy humility at our sheer smallness and powerlessness before nature and the universe. Herzog's eye for interesting images and brain for new ways of looking at the world have never left him, and here he encourages us to look at the remnants of meteorites as beautiful, mysterious visitors from other worlds.
I actually REALLY enjoyed this. Partly because the topic is absolutely fascinating to me. Partly because Herzog's way of telling the story with his dramatic (and occasionally funny) narration always makes me smile, even when it gets a bit ridiculous. Partly because this made me feel oddly inspired about the world (I know, an insane thought in 2020), and reignited my desire to travel (at some point). And of course, there are some stunning visuals here.
If I was in a museum I'd find this fascinating. However, despite the best efforts of Herzog and Oppenheimer, and as interesting as the subject may be, as a film, I found it very dry and uncinematic.
An absolutely stunning return to form for Herzog. His recent documentaries have been great, but this feels like the first one in a while that is constantly firing on all cylinders. The mood is consistently a serene, yet lighthearted sense of awe.
This is also Herzog’s best looking film in a while. He has completely mastered digital filmmaking at this point. The camera seems to constantly float through whatever space it occupies. It brings an almost ghostly presence to every moment.
Herzog seems to be in the “just fucking around having fun with his buddies” phase of his career. Not dissimilar to Adam Sandler’s recent Hawaiian escapades. But it is this very sense of fun and enthusiasm that drives the…
If you ever feel you’ve been unlucky, compare yourself to the woman in the 1950s who was sitting in her armchair at home watching TV when she was struck by a meteorite.
Werner Herzog reunites with his volcanologist buddy Clive Oppenheimer to bring us a rambling, globe-trotting, easy-going look at our planet as a target in the celestial firing range of meteorites. The subject matter is pretty wondrous stuff - space, time, life, death, and the meaning of things - but the filmmaking has little to distinguish it from other well made science documentaries. Of course the thing that does mark it out is Herzog’s patented wry commentary, with his poetic narration and deadpan humour. This is pleasure enough, but…
TIFF20 Film #2:
This was actually my first Werner Herzog documentary and while I liked it fine enough, I do wish it was a little better. My main issue was just how unfocused a lot of this was. It didn't really have a consistent flow and just jumped all around which made some sequences a bit dull. But this film looks absolutely beautiful and Herzog's narration really helped me get more engaged. Not great but it has enough fascinating segments and beautiful camera work to get a pass from me.
i was so ready to be bored by a 97 minute documentary on big rocks, lured in only by the promise of hearing werner herzog’s sweet, sweet voice. what i wasn’t expecting, but perhaps should have with herzog, is the fun and humour his narration is laced with. just as the science stuff starts to get a little boring, he throws in so many lines that i couldn’t stop laughing at: subtle, dead-pan humour that continues to put herzog’s documentaries on another level of cinema.
