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Into The Abyss (2012) - New Werner Herzog doc

Started by Artemis, April 09, 2012, 03:39:40 AM

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Artemis

I saw this yesterday. Even as a fan of Herzog and his inimitable way of finding, then focusing, on the inexpressible, I experienced this documentary as a profound hour and a half. The subject matter is hardly new, and many of the interviews reveal nothing more than has already been covered by far inferior film makers or networks, but throughout this there is a tangible sense of instinct Herzog projects about what is important to focus on; what is worth lingering on; what deserves our attention. It's such detail that has established him as one of the great documentary makers of our time, and it's in abundance here.

It's not perfect; Herzog intrudes his own opinion on capital punishment on one or two occasions in a way that feels obtrusive and undermines an otherwise commendably open exploration into one particular crime. The wife of Jason Burkett also sits a bit awkwardly - she's introduced late and appears to serve no other purpose than to substantiate the prologue.

All in all however, I found this typically existentially profound, with plenty of lovely little moments like
Spoiler alert
the wife looking at the photo of her unborn child cut to the brother of one of the victims looking at the photo of his dead brother; also the shot of the unnmarked cemetery cut to the birds flying over the rubbish dump.
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All in all, Herzog's still got it. I thought this was brilliant.

Nuclear Optimism

He originally interviewed a few inmates, but decided to focus the film on that particular incident. The good news is, the other interviews have been made into a TV series, and it's also very good.

wasp_f15ting

Those who don't fancy a trip to the cinema, this is also on PSN PS3 for £4.99 rental I believe.

BlodwynPig

Missed it! I think it was only on for 3 days here (plus Aguirre) - but I was otherwise engaged. DVD then. :(

hummingofevil

I too missed it at Tyneside. Gutted. However, this led me to discover the movie rental function on Virgin Media which allowed me to watch this truce in last 24 hours for £3.99.

As always thought it was excellent.

Spoiler alert
The bit at the beginning with the squirrel story is a killer. The amount of shit that that minister put upon himself must be unbearable and for Herzog to reveal this in a short interview is incredible film making.
[close]

P.s. encounters at the end of the world is on next week and that really can't be missed in the cinema!!!
Spoiler alert
That fucking penguin causes me much existential crisis.
[close]

Sam

Apparently the footage in the film comes from a total of 4 hours. From 4 hours of rushes to 90 mins of good film making is distillation and artistry at its purest.

Every time I think about grizzly man and how he went through about 100 hours of footage, went to Alaska to shoot his own and turned the whole thing into a film in 2 weeks I still feel awed. Most directors couldn't manage to fart in that time and herzog produced one of the greatest documentaries ever,

The man is an inspiration. At difficult times in my life, when I need to be at my most stoic to cut through a situation, I genuinely ask myself: what would Werner do? :)

Garam

Should mention that I just found out there are three 45 minute documentaries by Herzog related to this I think on 4OD. Catch them now, because the episodes start disappearing in 8 days.

Missed this at filmhouse with a satellite feed Q and A with the guy but 2 hours of new Herzog for free online sweetens the pill a bit. Did I use 'sweeten the pill' correctly there? I don't think I did. Irregardless to that - I love this man.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Sam on April 11, 2012, 07:30:32 PM
Apparently the footage in the film comes from a total of 4 hours. From 4 hours of rushes to 90 mins of good film making is distillation and artistry at its purest.
You probably already know this, but Herzog is notorious for shooting as little coverage as possible so interfering producers can't significantly re-edit his work.

Harpo Speaks

http://theinterrobang.com/2011/11/werner-herzog-talks-life-death-and-capital-punishment/

QuoteRon Bennington: And you edited the film fairly quickly right? The turn around on the film was fairly fast.

Werner Herzog: It was. However, shooting was spread out over almost an entire year, because, there are very rare moments when you would have access to one of the inmates, on death row for example. So it was very interspersed. But editing itself went relatively fast, One of the reasons is because there was maybe only eight hours of footage for the entire one and a half hour film.

This suggests eight, but I was sure I'd heard it was less than that on a podcast recently. Regardless, it's still  a significant achievement.

Thanks for the Virgin heads up hummingofevil, I had no idea it was available on there until you mentioned it.

I thought it was fascinating personally, and genuinely moving in places.

Sam

#9
Interfering producers? He produces his own films! Unless you mean execs or studio heads? Even then, I don't think he starts a project unless the turn around is quick. I maintain that the lack of coverage is sheer skill and distillation of craft. He does things quickly due to singular thinking and confidence. Although his nature is ponderous, his working methods aren't, hence at least a film a year, made in no time, but with a deeply contemplated worldview incohate and fully formed. In "herzog on h" he says that storyboarding and coverage are a disease and a lazy resort.

For me, distillation is the essence of mastery. I am utterly wearied by giganticism. Give me Webern, not mahler; heine not goethe; basho, not murakami; three Japanese lyrics not the rite of spring, the dead not Ulysses, shalamov not tolstoy etc etc

biggytitbo

I thought it was pretty dull.


By far the most interesting part - the interview the the guy 8 days from execution only accounted for about 5 minutes, why?


The interview with the ex-executioner was good too, but everything else - the interviews with family members have been done to death, if you pardon the expression.

Unoriginal

Biggytitbo - I'm not sure, but I think that Herzog may have devoted one of the episodes of On Death Row, which aired on Channel 4 a few weeks back, to that guy. I can't be certain until I see it though.

Natnar

I did sort of wonder how Jason Burkett's wife managed to get up the duff. I assumed at first she'd managed to smuggle a "sample" from Jason out of prison, but then the way she said that the baby was "legally Jason's" when she was first asked about the baby suggests that another donor was involved.

El Unicornio, mang

Thought this was good, albeit very grim. Don't have any real opinions on the death penalty either way, and this didn't particularly sway me, but I did feel, to some degree, for both sides. Thought the executioner guy was the best interview.