Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
15 June, 2008
I have, it could be said, a bit of a Herzog fetish. I am infatuated with him, truth be told, and with everything and everyone he has touched. My cat is named Kinski, for godsake. And I even hold a soft spot for Errol Morris, though I believe he reached a plateau quite some time ago, because it was Herzog who prodded him into making films.
Les Blank’s film is Herzogian not only in that it contains Herzog, but because it addresses Herzog as a Herzog character. Werner speaks of throwing himself onto a cactus for the cast of Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen because he said that he would; and of the perils of grown men not cooking their own meals; and of how in this life only cooking can replace filmmaking, or perhaps walking on foot. And he reveals himself to be no different from Steiner or from Aguirre. His assertions can vary wildly from one moment to the next, but they are all true, even as they are contradictory- that is the nature of Herzog. Truth can be found only in the moment. There is neither past nor future, truly.
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
(If you should choose to watch this, please be sure to set it to ‘original size’, otherwise the pixilation makes it nearly unwatchable. Smaller is better.)
16 June, 2008 at 9:04
I don’t know if you will be happy to hear that we are getting the new Herzog film in August, Encounters at the end of the World. I hear it’s beautiful, but the reviews on the content are mixed (as it always is with Herzog).
16 June, 2008 at 13:11
that’s incredibly good news - i was worried that i’d have to make a trip to see it somewhere. i may still be seeing it in chicago, though.