Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog)

[Lazlo]

IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/reference)

http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/98605/Happy_People:_A_Year_in_the_Ta iga_1.jpg

[Stay Puft]

This is a Dmitry Vasyukov documentary, first and foremost. It's a bit weird because Herzog narrates parts of the film, and he's even got Bini editing and Badelt scoring (I liked the score, too), but this seems to be the case of an international version? The credits list separate editors from Joe Bini, for example.

It's not a great documentary, but I enjoyed watching it. It's quaint and easygoing. There are some nice shots, particularly a few cool underwater shots. It's weird in that it doesn't even seem terribly engaged in its own subject. At time this is problematic, as it does the native population and their very real problems a disservice, but for the most part I think the style affords a nice tranquility to match the seemingly tough and monotonous, but ultimately rewarding, self-reliant lifestyle of the trappers. It flirts with romanticism (also a problem) in terms of the supposed simplicity of their self-reliant lives, but there are also some nice anecdotes that counter-balance those tendencies. As a whole, though, I do think these problems stem mostly from not engaging the material enough, so the film is weaker for that, but not worthless.

Also, those mosquitoes. Wow. Nope.

[Ezee E]

This is a Dmitry Vasyukov documentary, first and foremost. It's a bit weird because Herzog narrates parts of the film, and he's even got Bini editing and Badelt scoring (I liked the score, too), but this seems to be the case of an international version? The credits list separate editors from Joe Bini, for example.

It's not a great documentary, but I enjoyed watching it. It's quaint and easygoing. There are some nice shots, particularly a few cool underwater shots. It's weird in that it doesn't even seem terribly engaged in its own subject. At time this is problematic, as it does the native population and their very real problems a disservice, but for the most part I think the style affords a nice tranquility to match the seemingly tough and monotonous, but ultimately rewarding, self-reliant lifestyle of the trappers. It flirts with romanticism (also a problem) in terms of the supposed simplicity of their self-reliant lives, but there are also some nice anecdotes that counter-balance those tendencies. As a whole, though, I do think these problems stem mostly from not engaging the material enough, so the film is weaker for that, but not worthless.

Also, those mosquitoes. Wow. Nope.

There's two versions. The four hour is Vasyukov and a team of editors. Herzog nabbed it, put in his narration, and edited it down to 100 minutes. I wonder how much I missed.

It's okay. Not worthy of me seeking out the four hour version for the reasons you listed.

[Stay Puft]

Huh. I wonder if the four hour version would actually rectify some of my problems, then. Or just be four hours of quaint, superficial "look at this" footage.