I just watched Fitzcarraldo, and I have somehow bought the Les Blank documentary about it, too? So now I’m watching that.

Such concept.

Oh! I have this because it was included on a Herzog box set I bought.

It’s really boring so far! Very dry, and with a voice-over explaining everything.

There were a lot of rumours about Herzog doing horrible stuff?

Heh. Jason Robards and Mick Jagger were originally in this.

After 40% of the movie was finished, Robards got ill, so..

“I live my life or I end my life with this project.”

Blank apparently didn’t have sound going for parts of the movie either? It’s quite disturbing the way he flies in a sound bed (with foley, I think?) for most of the non-interview scenes.

I don’t know what it is about this documentary… it’s mostly just tedious? And then there’s a random scene that’s riveting? Almost by accident?

It’s just… There’s too much chatter to work as a poetic take on being in the jungle… and too little happens to pay attention to it otherwise…

One thing is clear — Herzog is an asshole.

Wow! They really did send a ship down the rapids! With Herzog, Kinski and a small filming crew aboard!

Burden of Dreams. Les Blank. 1982. ⚁

*gasp* Decadent! (He’s giving champers to the horses.)

Oh, Popol Vuh? I’ve never listened to them… They were doing film music by this point?

Oh, Kinsky looks… older…

He was 56? Right.

That’s oldz.

I think I’ve probably seen this before? Hasn’t everybody? But… I can’t actually remember seeing it, so perhaps I somehow missed it?

I’m enjoying the pacing of this… Herzog makes the scenes oddly long, which appeals to me.

It has more of a straightforward plot than I expected. At least so far.

Is that an ocelot!?

Seems a bit worse for wear…

This was filmed without sound (dialogue added later, vaguely tracking with people’s lips). I’m guessing the actual sound was total chaos — there’s so many people appearing on the screen, most of them not actual actors…

The eerie silence certainly adds something.

Kinski is so… moist…

We’ve all had that experience!

OK, I’m kinda zoning out now… I thought the movie worked perfectly until, like, 90 minutes in. But after that it’s been … just about getting the boat over that hill? The first ninety minutes had a road quality movie — travelling up that river… It is its own logic. But once it gets this static, I’m just wondering how many of these extras were hurt during these scenes — it doesn’t look like they had much of a safety net…

Oh, and now they’re getting hurt on screen, too. I mean, I realise that that’s not real, but it all just looks… uncomfortably reckless?

Fitzcarraldo. Werner Herzog. 1982. ⚃

Oh! This is a made-for-TV movie… How odd — Tati’s movies are so meticulous that it’s hard to imagine him just letting go and filming on… Oh, the restoration thing said it was filmed on a mix of video, 16mm and 32mm, so the aspect ratio is gonna change during the movie?

So… is this just a parade of visual gags and goofs? For an hour and a half? (There hasn’t been any dialogue.)

It’s Tati!

This is all quite amusing… it’s framed as a kind of circus performance, but it’s basically a self-conscious vaudeville show? (It’s a bit meta.) Postmodern vaudeville?

OK, this bit where he’s miming a guy fishing is… er… as entertaining as fishing is…

I think these guys are… doing… some kind of skipping rope thing? But the rope is thin and white? And the backgrounds are white? So I’m not quite sure they’re just dancing?

… oh! It’s a bolo thing?

Heh heh. Slo mo tennis match.

I can see this movie working as a kind of… Christmas Day staple? I mean, something vaguely amusing on the TV that you don’t have to pay attention to, but watching when your favourite bits appear… I’m saying that it’s kinda boring, but it’s got atmosphere? It’s got a kind of magic? It’s got a languid flow?

I want to love this, but I don’t. Watching it now at random, there’s just too many of these performances that aren’t that interesting? So it’s hard to keep paying attention.

Parade. Jacques Tati. 1974. ⚂