So last weekend we sat down to barrel through one of our Netflix "queue killers". (You know, those movies that sound good at the time so you add them to your Netflix and when they arrive you have no desire to watch them whatsoever?) Well, this particular "killer": Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small) is an early '70s, black and white film directed by Werner Herzog about rebellious patients at a mental institution. Oh, and the entire cast is made up of dwarfs. And it's in German. Long story short, it's actually a very beautiful and disturbing and funny film. But the absolute best thing about it is the commentary. Herr Herzog has the most amazing voice. Seriously, he has this lovely, charming accent and speaks so softly and fluidly...he'd make a wonderful hypnotist. But that's not all. He was joined in his commentary by my #1 favorite weirdo Crispin Hellion Glover! So not only does Herzog point out interesting factoids about the movie (the insane location, the haunting music, intra-cast romances) he is goaded on by Crispin to regale us with tales from his crazy life: walking around Germany—by which I mean literally walking around the perimeter of the country alone on foot, being tortured (to the brink of death) in an African prison, jumping into an enormous cactus after losing a bet...and this is the same guy who has famously boiled and eaten his own shoe, been shot while in the middle of an interview, and randomly pulled Joaquin Phoenix out of a car wreck. So fascinating! I can't wait to watch the rest of his 50+ films, many of which are available on a new dvd box set from his website. And also check out this hilarious clip (via Your Daily Awesome). It's a scene from Even Dwarfs...set to hyphy music (which the young folks tell me is a funky new Bay Area rap style...) in which the mental patients do a little ghostriding, hyphy-style.
June 26, 2007
Herz(og) So Good!
So last weekend we sat down to barrel through one of our Netflix "queue killers". (You know, those movies that sound good at the time so you add them to your Netflix and when they arrive you have no desire to watch them whatsoever?) Well, this particular "killer": Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small) is an early '70s, black and white film directed by Werner Herzog about rebellious patients at a mental institution. Oh, and the entire cast is made up of dwarfs. And it's in German. Long story short, it's actually a very beautiful and disturbing and funny film. But the absolute best thing about it is the commentary. Herr Herzog has the most amazing voice. Seriously, he has this lovely, charming accent and speaks so softly and fluidly...he'd make a wonderful hypnotist. But that's not all. He was joined in his commentary by my #1 favorite weirdo Crispin Hellion Glover! So not only does Herzog point out interesting factoids about the movie (the insane location, the haunting music, intra-cast romances) he is goaded on by Crispin to regale us with tales from his crazy life: walking around Germany—by which I mean literally walking around the perimeter of the country alone on foot, being tortured (to the brink of death) in an African prison, jumping into an enormous cactus after losing a bet...and this is the same guy who has famously boiled and eaten his own shoe, been shot while in the middle of an interview, and randomly pulled Joaquin Phoenix out of a car wreck. So fascinating! I can't wait to watch the rest of his 50+ films, many of which are available on a new dvd box set from his website. And also check out this hilarious clip (via Your Daily Awesome). It's a scene from Even Dwarfs...set to hyphy music (which the young folks tell me is a funky new Bay Area rap style...) in which the mental patients do a little ghostriding, hyphy-style.
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1 comment:
how funny! I went through that with that other Herzog movie... the one about the big ship in South America... I forgot what it's called but it was kind of a (rewarding) pain to watch.
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