I'm glad that I just recently was reminded about this film, and furthermore, that I stumbled into this room.
I must have seen the movie when it first showed in America back in the 70s ... in Philadelphia at TLA (Theater of the Living Arts) when the place was in its cinema incarnation. The place had been, right before being a hippie movie house, a place to see real, live plays. For a period of time, André Gregory (of My Dinner with André), put on some really dynamite theater there!
If you haven't seen My Dinner with André, please do. André Gregory's comments in the movie will recreate some of the zeitgeist of the time. This may also put Herzog in context with other artists whose work he may be (have been) familiar with. For some odd reason, I'm recalling the music album by Terry Riley called [b/]A Rainbow in Curved Air[/b] (the eponymous work being a great piece on the album, along with "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band"). These people, along with currently more recognized artists such as playwright Tom Stoppard, enriched the artistic/intellectual/spiritual world at a time, when "expanding the mind" was an active pursuit of many, many people. Would that it were so these days!
Let me get back on-topic. OK, so the muse that sang to Herzog also was heard by others such as Stoppard, Gregory, and Riley, to name a few.
Certainly, we can't leave out Jim Jarmusch. I would love to hear these two talk shop.
Then there's a recent Finnish movie: The Man Without a Past. If you haven't seen it, and if you like Herzog's work, then you might give this one a try. Here's a blurb that I copied from http://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/withoutapast.html
THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST
Mies Vailla Menneisyytta : Finland 2002 : Aki Kaurismaki : 97 mins
Moments after a middle-aged man (Markku Peltola) arrives in Helsinki by train, he’s attacked and left for dead by baseball-bat-wielding thieves. In hospital he apparently dies from his injuries – but then jumps off his death-bed, his memory a complete blank, and starts a whole new life from scratch. Existing in very Finnish zone between film noir, fairytale cartoon, David Lynch, and morality play, Kaurismaki’s latest is a typically whimsical, stylised, deadpan comedy, played – after that startlingly violent opening – at a seductively gentle pace. With the exception of the murderous thugs, Kaurismaki is clearly in love with everyone on screen – but thankfully manages to avoid any trace of sentimental gloop, delivering instead a genuinely delightful romantic fable set to a cracking soundtrack of 50s-flavoured rockabilly-ish hits
I loved The Man Without a Past. The actors aren't pretty or hip. The relationships are inspiring without being Hollywood sweet. This is IMHO a good companion film to Kaspar Hauser.
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