Fpi

This is a documentary about a reverend attempting to raise money for his church in 8+ hour long TV shows that are - to put it softly - out of the ordinary. If you've seen Herzog movies before, you know more or less what to expect: A weird atmosphere, a quite crazy character whom you'll still sympathize with, subtle strange and disturbing things happening all along, and when it all ends you find your eyes are slightly crossed and your mind very bent.

You'll see something not very unlike the insane "dancing chicken" ending of Stroszek and the interview with Grizzly Man's parents. There is also some absolutely amazing Hammond organ backed music here, live from the TV show - with some exceptionally passionate singers that will give you chills, one way or another! Herzog's choice of music is as always utterly fascinating - just like the rest of the movie.

Herzog fans can't miss this. If you don't know who the hell Herzog is, go see Grizzly Man - and return to this documentary once you're hooked.

Are you interested in astronomy, space travel, extraterrestrial life, science fiction etc. but find Star Wars and its likes boring because of their commercial nature and relatively small amount of action directly linked to the aforementioned subjects? In that case, you definitely need to check this out. It's mainly fiction, although certain parts are real-life scientists telling us in a very technical manner how space travel can take place. The story is narrated by the actor that played Wormtongue in Lord of the Rings part 2. He has an extremely intense presence that helps you find that hypnotic, dreamy state that Herzog seemingly always tries to push the viewer into. People who aren't used to a non-standard narrative structure, however, may of course become bored. But never mind them.

The soundtrack is absolutely incredible, including an African solo singer, a few Sardinian male singers and a cello. Even without the narrative bit, the music would have made this a fantastic movie! Dreaming of other worlds is fun. And this film isn't as disturbing or nightmarish as Herzog's other stuff. The Wild Blue Yonder is a must for Herzog and science fiction/astronomy fans, but the IDOL/Hollywood crowd should probably look elsewhere.

This starts out looking like a more or less standard TV documentary about a ski-jumper. Over time, however, it somehow gets stranger and stranger, until the ending, that somehow, incomprehensibly, left me totally out of breath.

The film works on so many levels: It's a fascinating portrayal of the celebrated ski-jumper Steiner, but it's also an amazing look at the plain aesthetics of ski-jumping, with extreme slow-motion pictures showing the jumpers' fears and ecstasy at a very profound level. In addition, there is also something in this film that's simply very hard or impossible to define, something about man itself, something about longing and - perhaps the most advanced of human emotions - pity.

How much of this portrayal that actually reflects Steiner's personality, and how much of it that reflects Herzog's, is hard to tell. But that's the only catch. Those looking for Herzog classics should not think that this movie can be missed because it's a 45-minute TV documentary. Apart from pictures of some nasty ski-jumping falls, it's not really disturbing to the extent that put me slightly off when watching for example Aguirre and Even Dwarfs Started Small - so it could from my point of view overall be the best of the many Herzog movies I've seen so far.