Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (Werner Herzog)

[Stay Puft]

LO AND BEHOLD, REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD
Dir. Werner Herzog



IMDb page

[Stay Puft]

The idea of Herzog making a documentary about the internet seemed patently absurd to me at the time, but in retrospect it shouldn't have surprised me. Encounters at the End of the World, for example, can be reduced to Herzog talking to scientists for 90 minutes, and that in itself is highly amusing and engaging, nevermind the film's topic. Lo and Behold delivers on the same. Also, I think this is the first time I've seen an interview subject be aware of Herzog's status as a filmmaker and comment upon that fact, in a brief but amusing exchange (aren't they all?) in which they ponder whether a robot could direct a movie as well as Herzog. Also wonderful, Herzog lamenting in voice over that he could not further discuss the lives of fictional characters ("malevolent druids") with internet addicts. Herzog fans will have plenty of reasons to be delighted.

However, this is also a wonderfully comprehensive and slippery sort of film, that attempts to consider no less than the relationship between humanity and technology in its totality, and what it might mean for the future of both our species and our planet. It's Herzog, in the twilight years of his life, gazing upon a world rapidly changing around him, with the passionate curiosity that has defined so many of his films, and wondering what it all might mean, and what it could look like after he's gone. The most pointed segment, to this end, is Herzog asking all of his interview subjects to consider whether or not the internet dreams about itself. The range of responses, from bewilderment to excited intellectual discourse, is hilarious in its juxtaposition. (My audience even burst out laughing at the question.)

I also loved the reverence that Herzog seems to have for the birth of the internet, what he calls one of the greatest and often forgotten moments in history. The film begins in what I swear has to be an explicit reference to Malick's The New World, as music from Das Rheingold swells and the interview subject eventually even compares the first successful network connection to the discovery of the Americas. Or maybe I'm just crazy. It's a great opening sequence, at any rate.

Not one of the best Herzog docs by any stretch (as I said, it's more Encounters than, say, Lessons of Darkness, and I certainly prefer the style of the latter) but an enthusiastic yay for sure.

[Winston*]

I was surprise at how light and funny this was. There were so many nightmare roads he could've decided to go down with this subject matter, but instead he focuses with bemused detachment at the sufferers of internet addiction and hypersensitivity to electricity. Some of his off-camera Herzogisms had me rolling. He definitely knows his own character at this point.

I also felt like the meandering structure of the thing, with seemingly arbitrarily ordered 'chapters', was fitting given the subject matter.

Good film.

[number8]

I was surprise at how light and funny this was.

I actually expected it to be lighter, to be honest, because it's a subject matter that's relatively arbitrary by his standards and I was expecting it to be mostly centered on Herzog's own musings about technology, but it goes into some characteristically tough places. I love the mischievous tension in the chapters about the signal-afflicted people and the off-kilter cyberbullied family, where those interviewees' pained sincerity is followed by Herzog letting the camera running silently, almost as if it's waiting to see if the audience dares to look down on those people or not.

It's definitely funny as fuck, though. It left me thinking if Herzog has become a self-parody of himself at first, but having rewatched some of his old docs recently, I wonder if it's just that his comic timing has gotten much more refined. I watched My Best Fiend in a theater last month, and it's interesting because I remember watching it alone on DVD years ago and was more fascinated than tickled by the story, but this time I joined the rest of the audience in rolling throughout because I was more attuned to his deadpans. In this film, though, you almost don't need to grok to his sense of humor because the delivery is so sharp. "I was disappointed that I could not talk to Chloe about malevolent druid dwarves or whatever..."

[Skitch]

His interview with Maron was the longest I've got to hear him dissect stuff, and it was absolutely fascinating. He definitely has an amazing sense of comedic timing.

[Spinal]

His interview with Maron was the longest I've got to hear him dissect stuff, and it was absolutely fascinating. He definitely has an amazing sense of comedic timing.

I will second this. The part at the end where he talks about Roger Ebert is golden. I won't spoil it.

[Winston*]

I actually expected it to be lighter, to be honest, because it's a subject matter that's relatively arbitrary by his standards and I was expecting it to be mostly centered on Herzog's own musings about technology, but it goes into some characteristically tough places. I love the mischievous tension in the chapters about the signal-afflicted people and the off-kilter cyberbullied family, where those interviewees' pained sincerity is followed by Herzog letting the camera running silently, almost as if it's waiting to see if the audience dares to look down on those people or not.

Yeah. It was a sly choice to introduce their fundamentalism at the very end of the segment. Devoid of context that statement the mother makes about the internet being Satan might be the most absurd thing said in the movie but it plays differently where it is placed.

I was just surprised that the dark side of the internet segment only included that one story when there were clearly other avenues he could've gone down. .

[Winston*]

Third that Maron interview. I don't listen to that many episodes anymore but his film director ones are all very good.

Would also highly recommend his William Friedkin one.

[Skitch]

Would also highly recommend his William Friedkin one.

That was the episode that got me in. LOVED it. I too am selective with which eps I pick, but that episode made me go back and rewatch a few of his films.