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| Scene from Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World |
Welcome to the weekly column Trailing Off in which I take a look at a trailer from the past week and analyze its potential. This will be done using an obnoxious amount of analyzing and personal thoughts on the cast and crew as well as expectations. Coming every Sunday (it's called Trailing Off for a reason), I will attempt to highlight films ranging from new blockbusters to lesser known indies and give them their due. Partially to spread awareness, I do believe that there is an art to the sell and will do my best to highlight why these trailers matter or don't with approval (trove) or disapproval (trash). So please stop by, recommend some trailers, and I will see you next time.
Trailer in Discussion
Directed By: Werner Herzog
Starring: Kevin Mitnick, Elon Musk, Lucianne Walkowicz
- Preamble -
As most of you may be quick to notice this week's choice seems to stray from the tried and true path of fiction films. In all honesty, it wasn't a great week for new trailers, and I apologize if I missed something more worthy of my time. Though in fairness, I do honestly wish that I made more of an effort to recognize documentaries. I suppose a part of the reasoning is that they're not necessarily as accessible to audiences as blockbusters or even indie films. However, I do think that if there's one person that may be deserving of your time in the documentary world, it is likely Werner Herzog, who may not be the greatest voice in the medium, but he definitely is one of the most memorable and eccentric personalities that the medium has going for it.
While he has done plenty of work in fiction, his work nowadays seems to be in documentary. His most noteworthy is Grizzly Man, which saw him ponder the consequences of a man who lived among the bears. His entire career may very well be summarized as a man versus nature aesthetic that has taken him around the world, even to Antarctica with Encounters at the End of the World, which he intended to make as an anti-Happy Feet film. It wasn't necessarily just about penguins, but it definitely explored a side of the manner that most hadn't even considered. Now that he has tackled most of the world around him, his latest, Lo and Behold, is looking to take on the internet and what connects us.
Considering that he is best described as melancholic, this isn't likely to be a conventional story about one of our most conventional means of communication. In fact, it is likely to be more of a meditative experience, and one that sees him become a character in his own journey. I don't know anything about this, and I am unfortunately sad to say that I haven't given too many of his documentaries a chance beyond the ones mentioned. However, I still think he's worth mentioning here, if just for the hope that this will be another one of his better works and that he ends up finding new and insightful truth about the internet. If nothing else, it'll be a good chance to hear him talk in that familiar cadence.
- Dissection -
I have to admit that it delivers on entertainment. The final line of the trailer in which Herzog notes that monks are tweeting in particular is very funny. I think that this is at the very least a very lively debate on the issue of computers in our daily lives. I like that it's booming with rich personalities and even Herzog seems willing to make a few quips here and there. As a whole, this looks to be a fun journey into an issue that faces us all. Well, maybe not all of us in the proper sense, just those who took the effort to read this piece. You clearly-had to log onto a computer and go through the circuitry to read this. If nothing else, that should explain how overdue we are to have a documentary that explores the thing that connects the planet, and maybe even the universe if the footage presented here is to be believed.
However, what is probably going to be the most hopeful thing of all is that maybe this will explore computers in all of its facets. For starters, there's a certain evolution that even the trailer explores. We see the first computer. We see how computers connect us to Mars. We see how it influences even celibate people like monks. There's even a few whose lives are ruined by it. Computers go beyond the nuts and bolts that we take it for, and Herzog seems adamant about exploring it to its greatest extent. I think that even if this ends up being a biography of how the modern computer was born, it will be an interesting ride, and one that is full of life and personality.
It's an issue that will only continue to impact our lives, especially as many have turned to technology for needless upgrades. We don't need quite as much as what's being put out on an annual basis. It's hard for anything to warrant value with the constant change of design. However, I do think that the idea of exploring how computers connect and disconnect everyone is itself a fascinating idea, and one that is at least hinted at nicely here. Yes, there's the obvious pull quotes of praise to give more of a reason. However, the footage itself is far more convincing, and it makes me eager to check it out, even if I will be cliche and mostly get around to it when it's on Netflix or some rental service, again by computer. It's an irony, I know.
- One Sentence Sell -
Werner Herzog made a movie about computers, y'all.
- Trove or Trash -
TROVE
The point of trailers is to sell someone a movie. What this ended up doing is raise a whole bunch of questions that I hope that the documentary will answer. It's so full of potential that I am bumping this up in terms of overall anticipation.
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