A dvd that I covet
Added 7/15/2009
I love the details that abound in this film. One feels like you are living out what the filmmakers are living out when they hit the boat on Lake Loch Ness. Whether or not the film has no real genre isn't something that bothers me. What bothers me is that I can't stop thinking about this movie. And I wonder what would have happened if Kitana Baker just walked around in a bikini throughout the whole film. It probably would have found a bigger box office return Mr. Zak Penn.
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An Amusing Mockumentary
Added 4/28/2009
Werner Herzog is one of the most respected filmmakers of all time and a praised documentary filmmaker. Zak Penn is a Hollywood screenwriter who has written films like Suspect Zero and The Incredible Hulk. With this film, a mockumentary, the two poke fun at these facts in what, at times, seems more like a real documentary than not.
It begins with Werner Herzog talking to John Bailey about his life and work for a documentary Bailey is making called Herzog in Wonderland. Herzog's next project is a documentary on the Loch Ness Monster entitled "Enigma of Loch Ness," which is to be produced by Zak Penn. On July 27, 2003; Herzog and Bailey's film crew depart for Scotland, with Penn noticeably uncomfortable with a crew following Herzog. With the crew soon on a boat searching for Nessie, everything begins going wrong and Penn's ulterior motives for making the film are revealed to Herzog's disdain.
The "plot" of the film is intercut with interview segments. Also in the film is a loving homage to one of the more famous Herzog myths, where Penn pulls a gun on Herzog for refusing to shoot a particular scene. And, of course, Nessie makes a few (albeit brief) appearances.
I honestly don't have much to say about the film. It's interesting and better than Christopher Guest's previous mockumentary, but Incident at Loch Ness does grow tedious at times. The Loch Ness Monster and Werner Herzog are both incredibly interesting subjects and while watching this I couldn't help but think about how a real documentary on Nessie directed by Herzog probably would've been more interesting. However, Herzog is hilarious here and his willingness to make fun of all his career achievements is almost worth the price of a rental.
If anything, Incident at Loch Ness does feature one scene which I absolutely loved. Herzog's "underwater scene" was particularly wonderful and stood apart from the rest of the movie.
Incident at Loch Ness could've been a masterpiece with the talent involved but alas it's not. However, if you're even a little bit familiar with Herzog and/or the slightest bit intrigued by the Loch Ness Monster, the film isn't a complete waste of time. A lot of it is even quite amusing. A stand-out among non-Guest mockumentaries and for that reason alone it gets 4 stars rather than the more realistic 3.
GRADE: B-
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Werner-- Where Did You Go?
Added 2/23/2009
Werner Herzog must have really fallen on hard time$$ and thin dime$$ to have become a part of this "Mockumentary." Comparable to Orson Welles making a zombie vid for MTV with an aging Michael Jackson. What? No projects out there for this icon? Sad.
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Totally Real, Totally Scary...Totally.
Added 12/31/2008
A truly scary documentary about the moment man finally comes in contact with a prehistoric monster which, up to the release of this film, has totally been hailed as one of the biggest hoax of modern day. Hollywood dude Zak Penn teams up with famous German dude Werner Herzog to embark on a journey to Inverness in Northern Scotland where the Loch Ness, a lake, resides. Shortly after Werner arrives, it becomes so clear that Zak Penn, as the producer has like, a totally major Hollywood production in mind, whereas Herzog thinks he is set out to make another Herzog meditation on the human nature and the pursuit of dreams. As if!
When things start to fall apart, Herzog threatens to walk off, but instead other crucial crew members jump ship in the middle of the night. What follows is just so like... unbelievable! OMG! SHUT UP!!!!!! Here for the first time is totally clear, totally uncut totally unaltered images of the awesome Loch Ness Monster, totally unrehearsed, totally real. This documentation will finally convert all the naysayers into believers.
Yeah yeah, the bookworms might harp and carry on about this film being an allegorical vehicle on the creative act that goes into film-making, that the search for something that doesn't exist is a metaphor akin to a sea captain's white whale, a president's WMD, or every man's lifelong search for the unattainable. They may even add that Zak Penn is the embodiment of the capitalistic concept of film as entertainment, achievement as winning versus Werner's notion that film as revelation, and a discovery of the self. Or they will haughtily observe that this film may be inspired from that other film from the 60s, the happening in the park, Psychosymbioxtstatsis, or that the mythical creature of the Loch Ness, is in fact, Werner, and that the notion of adventurous film-making, which Herzog pioneered and which so many of us believed in once, is now quickly being replaced by the easy CGI computer generated films, where an ant could easily push a steam ship over a mountain without even yelling at the cinematographer for a burger. Like...whatever!
But let's face it, all these heady intellectual discussions pale to the moment you see what we all come to this movie to see.
Everyone's really mean to Zak Penn though. I deduct one star from this film for Werner being such a total jerk to Zak. It's totally uncool that a guy who does a movie about the Dalai Lama could turn out to be such a complete frienemy. If you listen to the audio commentary on the second round, you will get more of it. I honestly don't understand it.
Zak's just doing exactly what Werner does in all his films.
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post-post modern humor
Added 11/25/2008
I loved this movie and I thought it was hilarious. I can see how some people might dislike it though, because the movie doesn't rely on slapstick or gimmicks to get laughs. This is subtle satire, with a post-modern bent. Herzog talks at length about "ecstatic reality" and "fact vs. truth". And in typical Herzogian style, what is real/authentic and what is not begins to blur. Some of the best parts are when the producer and the crew try to be "authentic".
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Otherworldly Beauty
Added 9/12/2009
Beautiful imagery of nearly unreal seeming scenes make this movie a jewel among documentaries. The music just fits perfectly in this achievement. I am tempted though to take of a star questioning the pure value as a documentary (as so many other of Herzog's 'documentaries') but I would love to see more unusual movies like this one.
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This film starts with an overview of the history of flight, especially the non-mechanical sort, and, of course, ends with scenes of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937, which kyboshed the dream of lighter than air vehicles as practical instruments of travel. Then, the film follows the obsessive modern flotative folly of aeronautical engineer, Dr. Graham Dorrington, of St. Mary's College in London, England, and his attempt to use a miniature blimp (which is diamond shaped and white) to circumnavigate the forest canopy in Guyana, in order to a) vindicate the death of a friend of his, documentary cinematographer Dieter Plage a decade before when an earlier blimp got tangled in Sumatran trees, and the man fell to his death trying to free himself from it during a storm, as well as b) ostensibly find out much about the canopy's resources for commercial development. Dorrington is a bit of a nutty guy, albeit rather tame by Herzogian standards. He lost two fingers on his left hand when, as a teen, he forgot to let go of a small rocket he was testing. Like most Herzog `documentaries,' though, the term must be loosely applied, for Herzog is not merely recording Dorrington's obsession, but financing the expedition. This is made clear when, on the mini-blimp's maiden flight, Herzog insists that he take his camera along for the ride, in case it is the only flight the vehicle makes, and chides Dorrington's desire to test it alone, first, as stupid, and the worst sort of stupid. His rationale: `I cannot ask a cinematographer to get in an airship before I test it myself.' It has been reported that much of that scene was scripted, but so what? Herzog has never been a literalist, no more than his pal Kinski was.
The White Diamond is a minor film in Herzog's oeuvre, and much too digressive, even if a far better film than any other filmmaker could do with the materials at hand, but one wishes the DVD company, Wellspring, would have included some extra features, like a commentary by Herzog. All we get are a Herzog filmography, and some trailers- labeled as both Trailers and Coming Attractions. We don't even get this film's trailer in the bargain. But, why be grounded when this film is dedicated to the very antipodes?
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Beautiful scenes of the jungles of Guyana
Added 5/15/2008
I had the pleasure of living in Guyana for 2 years and visited Kaiteur Falls where most of this was filmed. It perfectly captures the beauty of that remote place.
I read other reviewer's concerns about how true some of the scenes with the professor and the director were, and they are valid fears.
That being said the drama between them and the beauty of the images make this an entertaining film to own.
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