Four Minutes of Bliss

.

.

Werner Herzog reading Go The F**k To Sleep?

Oh hell yes. (via)

.

Werner Herzog Is Nobody's Artist

.

When I heard Werner Herzog was going to be appearing at the IFC Center again this week I knew I had to go, even if I did have a few reservations over sitting through Cave of Forgotten Dreams again, which felt a little bit thin the first time I saw it. I'm happy to report the film actually played better on a second take, and the feeling of gratitude you're taken over with towards Mr. Herzog for gifting you entry into this rarefied world where you'd otherwise never get to enter remains palpable, much like the surface of painted stone that his camera relentlessly documents. Fittingly, there's a real awe of history pulsing behind this thing - he seems to press his lens into every crevice he can find lest it be lost.

Since I had seen the film before and was more there to hear him speak afterward I sat in the very front row, and I do wonder if this proximity - I felt completely swallowed up by the place - might've been an aid in getting me entirely into it. If it was that or just the fact that I'd seen the film before and had already established that intimacy with it I dunno, but it's definitely an experience you really shouldn't miss.

As I said, I sat in the front row, so I felt a little bit self-conscious about whipping out my camera to record the Q&A, but not enough to, you know, not record it. Which I did! And which I now share with you for posterity, and awesomeness. I don't have the world's steadiest hand but I think this turned out pretty well if only because I was so close. It's broken up into five parts, which you will find... right here!

Part 1 - In which he tells a story of exploiting his accent for gain, his role on The Simpsons, the types of tools that were used inside the cave, and what would happen if somebody passed out from the fumes.

.

.

Part 2 - In which he explains why he's not sure the cave art should be called "art," wonders if it was religion or child-play, admits the unknowability of it in the end, explains why he puts humor into his documentaries, contemplates escaped crocodiles being chased by helicopters, and rejects the concept of noble issues movies about abused children.

.

.

Part 3 - In which he discusses the generation-altering effects of modern technology between people his own age and children and how it's changing our conception of reality, how he saw with his own eyes in the 1970s villagers in Uganda have a completely different understanding of medical poster art that was intended to help them and how that affected him, and why he shot the film in 3D.

.

.

Part 4 - On trying to capture the reality of the caves in such extreme limitations, on all of the amazing locations that he's seen in his life, and how he rejects the postcard beauty of the environment in favor of using them to explore something about the inner human condition. Gazing into the abyss!

.

.

Part 5 - In which he explains his aversion to the words "art" and "artist" and calls contemporary art "appalling" and a "massive fraud" and a "conspiracy of the market," and how he just wants to pass along some awe.

.

.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009)

Detective Vargas (Michael Pena): What's an 1144?

Detective Hank Havenhurst (Willem Dafoe): An 1144 is like somebody's dead.

Gonna be in a room with Herzog tonight, whoop whoop!

.

Good Morning, World

.

Paul Walker is a Pussy...

.

... cat. Awww, Paul Walker really does seem as harmless as a lil' kitten all tangled up in nonsense, doesn't he? Poor dear. Trapped with Vin Diesel's company for the rest of your days... shudder. I suppose he can comfort himself with all the hookers and blow the millions of dollars he's made from the undying Fast Now Sans Furious franchise will buy him.

Speaking of! I speak of that movie and several others that have today as their release date as the only thing they share in common over in my weekly Friday write-up at Celebrity Beehive. The big movies coming out this weekend make me want to pluck out my eyeballs with salad tongs and serve them on a bed of fresh greens, but there are two, count them two, smaller films out that I can definitely recommend.
.

Anyway they be Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams (my review), which I found a little too long but transfixing all the same, and Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins (my review), which I blathered on about just yesterday so go read that if you need convincing. Of course, and correct me if I'm wrong, I do believe both of these are only available on big screens here in NYC, so if you're in one of the billion other places on Earth, well, too bad for you!
.

I Am Link

.

--- One Long Boo - I've been hearing good word on the Uruguayan single-take haunted house movie The Silent House for months and months now, so it's nice to hear it will actually get some play here in the States. Of the Video On Demand sort, but still, it's something. It'll be accesible via your television set on May 11th. And Slash has got a trailer.

--- Way Werner - With his 3D-palooza Cave of Forgotten Dreams finally getting a real release next week - here's my review, by the way - we're in the lucky golden days of Herzog interviews everywhere. Here's a good one over at IndieWire. I thought it might end with him smacking the interviewer, which was exciting.

--- Red Button Man - Apparently David Lynch made an animated short film for the band Interpol, which they're showing on their recent tour. Yet another reason for me to be excited about seeing them next month! But if you're not going to any of their shows, no worries, the film's already online and you can watch it right here.

--- Speaking of hard-to-see films, you can watch Stanley Kubrick's lost first film Fear and Desire right here, but only until April 29th!

--- You Suck - Inspired by Mickey Rourke's slam of his movie with Megan Fox and Bill Murray - a movie I totally want to see - Pajiba listed their ten favorite examples of actors slamming one of the movies they were in. I'd never heard the Jamie Lee Curtis one. And I was shocked there was no mention of The Sound of Mucous.

.

Quotes of the Day

.

"If an actor knows how to milk a cow, I always know it will not be difficult to be in business with him... I can tell from miles away, yes. Woody Allen is not ever going to milk a cow.”

"[Klaus Kinski] refused offers by Fellini, Kurosawa, and others,” Herzog explained. “It was clear to him that the films we made would define him. Why does he refuse an offer by Fellini, for example? Because the thought he made bad films. And I share his opinion."

Those are from Werner Herzog's recent interview with GQ, via. I couldn't choose between the two of them and then I realized this is my damned blog, I don't have to choose if I don't wanna! Anyway, bless that singular man.

As for the second quote, thank goodness Klaus turned down those fools! He might never have made the spectacular spectacle Crawlspace if he hadn't, and the cinema would be that much emptier because of it.

.