fraser-simons

It'd be interesting to see if some of the reasons this movie works are actually completely unintentional. Watching it now I expected it be slightly problematic, especially since it's a "romance", which in the 90s was basically slightly to overtly rapey. Lamentations of the "nice guy" often feel a bit too incel-esk too.

But where this goes right, is because the mask brings out the ID, it actually doesn't try to paint those aspects as something positive. The nice guy stuff is still there, but it plays into the super hero themes well, where latent aspects just need to come to the forefront naturally, and not get turned up to 1000%, where they're undesirable to romantic interest too.

On top of all that, the real hero is actually the dog, so it's winning on multiple levels. It also doesn't overstay its welcome, unlike most super hero flicks clocking in over 2 hours these days. This holds up really, really well. Pleasantly surprised.

Pretty disappointing, given the talent involved. Though, kind of fun to see Fishbourne more actiony, rather than... mentor...y? Still, the typical montage of flashbacks is essentially all of the character building we get. Another movie completely misunderstands what high IQ functioning people are actually like, because they want them to behave in a traditionally cinematic way.

There's a reason one of (the highest?) recorded IQ individuals in the states is an absolute nut bar conspiracy theorist: The more information individuals can perceive, the more they're able to incorporate it into their motivated thinking. It doesn't necessarily mean they can just pick up on absolutely anything or even be able to engage in critical thought.

Anyway, it's pretty unsatisfying. Mostly because even rolling with these things, it still doesn't manage to commit to what it's trying to say about the main characters' character. Sometimes prescriptive about who is able to kill, yet unable to commit, and so ends up flaccid.

It's fine, nothing special, and ultimately will be quite forgettable. I was hoping the talent would have gravitated toward a more interesting script. Maybe they just threw money at them.

Other than some pacing issues stemming from Herzog reiterating same or similar information, this is (by far and away) my favourite of his documentary (or esk) films.

To me, it felt like a very honest eulogy, but one where the author is not afraid of being the subject, either. A complex, fraught, very strange relationship is elucidated-at the same time as Herzog hitting his favourite themes: the monstrousness of humanity ( and individuals). Sometimes shockingly candid.

Yet the final scene is absolutely stunning and perfect; Herzog's narration with the long shot of Kinski, and what that means to him, is, for me, maybe the most impactful scene like it in my recent memory.