The Story of Droning by Mark 'Despair' Cousins
I knew it was all utter nonsense when Cousins interviews other pretentious arse head Lars Von Trier about Dryer and Von Trier stammers and dribbles through an utterly pointless and horribly shot interview segment saying 'I don't know why he's great but he is'. Oh well that's ok then Cousins.
At one point, while randomly and casually discussing the birth of documentaries, Cousins actually says "Seemingly they were only co-directors, the other director being life... itself"
Jesus!
Lastly the documentary is so utterly horrible to look at. Amazing clips are presented with no life to them, the interviews are unlit and discoloured giving them the look of 3 day old dried sick and the footage he took from around the world is bleak, too slow, shot on cheap video and unimaginative making the world a cold and ugly place to look at. The whole thing is accompanied by the dreariest music Cousins could find (probably from his own personal collection of Latvian dirges) that makes it have the feel of a 'help you quit smoking' hypnotic video from 1989.
How can you take an art form so full of innovation, creativity, life, excitement, message, propaganda and importance and reduce it to this droning, creaking, plodding, monotonous, opinionated and slanted 15 hours of tedium?!?
Some review on imdb described it like he was trying to hypnotise an otter. I can't beat that.
I imagine that a dinner round Cousins house takes place in a cold grey room, on a bare, rough table (because, you know, poverty and despair are "REAL"), while Russian funeral marches play on a small wind up, war time gramophone and the 7hr Eric Von Stroheim film Greed plays on a loop, projected on a blood stained sheet next to a bare window, while his wife sobs uncontrollably into the mash potatoes and Cousins drones on saying "These are the worst mashed potatoes so far in the story of Cousins, there's no cream, no butter, no taste and yet think again, look closer, the preparer has left the skins on, the skins are red. Maybe the red potato symbolises hope amongst this futile dinner time. Maybe it's just a potato. The server leaves it ambiguous and who am I to ask?"
It all makes you want to scream and say cheer up you miserable bastard!
If I manage to wade through any more I will let you know.
Twat.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams - 11th June 2011
I am still not sure, having not seen the 2D version, just how much the third dimension added to it but despite that it was a rich, intelligent, fascinating and detailed type of work the likes of which we rarely see anymore.
This is a documentary in the purest sense, as it is, quite simply, just a documentation of something. It just so happens that this 'something' is beyond valuable and utterly remarkable.
It has no axe to grind, no drum to beat, in typical Herzogin fashion, the Bavarian loony genius shows us something, offers up a couple of intriguing questions and moves on without long diatribes or half baked assumptions.
For those not in the know this is all about some 35,000 year old cave paintings in France and Herzog is the only person who has been allowed down there to film it for all to see and thank Zeus he has because I can't imagine anyone doing a better or slightly weirder job. From the people he chooses to interview to the questions he asks and the observations he makes, the whole thing is just a little off its axis in a charming, slightly nuts way.
The film throws up so many discussions your mind can barely contain them all and the more you think, the more you see the ramifications of these paintings. Questions of tribal behaviour being more observant and artistic than you'd expect, questions of religion, or at least some form of basic gathering/worship/celebration, questions on sex/gender and of course questions of evolution while the whole time it also balances the fact that the paintings shine a light on our self inflated sense of our own creativity and how, really, little we have creatively progressed in that vast chasm of time.
Herzog's use of simple cameras, a tiny crew and minimal lighting when he is down in the cave, is just hypnotic and don't worry he covers every inch he can with those cameras and towards the end of the film he does just let the images play out, utilising evocative music and simple but highly effective light play to transport you back 35,000 years with those questions still swirling in your head.
To hear me review this film in more depth, along with others, please listen to the third episode of my podcast:
Available to download now from http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/110745
and iTunes (just search 'after movie diner' in the podcasts section)
9 out of 10 Bavarian fruitcakes
Points from The Wife 9 out of 10