Let's say I'm as possibly sane as a person can be.
Now let's say I go on a trip to Peru and when I come back I start randomly yelling things like "Why is everyone staring at me!" or "Razzle Dazzle them! Razzle DAZZLE them!" And then I start creating contraptions out of glassware claiming that "I'm trying to capture Heaven on earth!" I claim to hear god on the radio, I speed across bridges at rapidly high speeds, and I cry when I see people working out in gyms.
People would either think I'm trying to be artsy, or more sensibly, that I'm totally flipping insane. However in this movie, we have a main character that does all of these things and none of the characters around him react realistically. The man's very own fiancée continually raises her eyebrow and sometimes appears to LOOK concerned, but never actually takes action, or even attempts to give her future husband any help what so ever. The same goes for the mother and the main character's best friend.
Why do all of the surrounding characters remain so calm, so lenient to such a bizarre character? Sometimes he'll be screaming bizarre nonsense in a character's face. Other times he'll be threatening characters' lives with a sword he cares about so passionately. Wouldn't you think someone would do something, or maybe just do something other than stare blankly?
Nope. Because if anybody did anything, then there wouldn't really be a movie here. And that's what hurts the believability so much... laughably so. So many critics were quick to say that Michael Shannon's over the top delivery is what hurt the production. But it's not, it's really not. He does a fine job portraying a mentally dangerous man. It's the characters around him that feel so flat that make this character, Brad McCullum, stick out so harshly.
William Defoe, easily the most likable person here, is caught in similar downfall. His performance is fine but his character is so bland, so fake. He listens to these characters testimonies and tries to piece together an idea of what is going on, but he comes off just as clueless as everybody else. He never once says to any of these characters "What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you try to get him help? Why didn't you take ANY action? This could have been prevented," like any real person would do. He never even comments on the absurdity of Brad McCullum's actions in these stories. He just sorts sits there, nods his head, keeps grinning like a robot, and moves on. Why doesn't he react like a normal person, instead of a lifeless plot device? Probably because director Werner Herzog thought it would have messed with the boring atmosphere or the slow timing of the movie. Point is, it's the artistic choices that hurt this movie in the long run. It comes off as just completely laughable.
And speaking of artistic choices, boy are there a mess of them. Perhaps some work on some level I never really grasped, but for the most part they too come as extremely humorous. A few examples: early in the movie the cameraman practically trips and completely slips up a continuous shot, yet it remains in the movie. Why? It was obvious enough for everyone to notice. Why keep it?
Another example, the actors come to complete stops at random points in the movie, appear to freeze, and then stare into the camera for five minutes. This happens multiple times... not once is it explained. Not once does it make sense. Someone may tell you they were trying to imply Brad McCullum's schizophrenia with these scenes, as if his schizophrenia isn't already overwhelmingly apparent in this movie. The truth is their just trying to pull off some David Lynch inspired art, and well, it just feels too contrived. And tooo awkward.
The finest David Lynch-inspired-nonsensical moment comes midway into movie in which we're randomly thrown into a snow-covered setting along with David and two new characters: a hillbilly and a man with dwarfism (sorry I'm not 100% what the politically correct term is so that's what I'm sticking with). Nothing in this five minute scene made any sense to me, I wanted someone to explain to me what had happened, but I really don't think there is anything to explain. A lot of words are spoken in this scene about a subject the audience is never let in on, so it comes off as a bunch of nonsense. Meanwhile the man with dwarfism silently walks around a giant tree stump looking into the sky worryingly. The scene ends beautifully with all three actors, once again, staring awkwardly into the camera. None of these newly introduced characters are ever seen again. Whaaaattt.
The unfortunate thing is I, and so many of those in the audience with me, were hoping that all these awkward moments would come together in the end. These are the only scenes in the movie that feel like they still need explaining when the credits start rolling. Nobody is going to walk away from this movie not knowing what happened, saying they didn't get it. It's a fairly simple and obvious plot. But those artistic scenes. Those will stick with you. You'll walk away wondering why the hell they were there and why they were necessary... other than reminding you were watching a David Lynch production.
Overall, this film is a mess. Simple as that.
Now let's say I go on a trip to Peru and when I come back I start randomly yelling things like "Why is everyone staring at me!" or "Razzle Dazzle them! Razzle DAZZLE them!" And then I start creating contraptions out of glassware claiming that "I'm trying to capture Heaven on earth!" I claim to hear god on the radio, I speed across bridges at rapidly high speeds, and I cry when I see people working out in gyms.
People would either think I'm trying to be artsy, or more sensibly, that I'm totally flipping insane. However in this movie, we have a main character that does all of these things and none of the characters around him react realistically. The man's very own fiancée continually raises her eyebrow and sometimes appears to LOOK concerned, but never actually takes action, or even attempts to give her future husband any help what so ever. The same goes for the mother and the main character's best friend.
Why do all of the surrounding characters remain so calm, so lenient to such a bizarre character? Sometimes he'll be screaming bizarre nonsense in a character's face. Other times he'll be threatening characters' lives with a sword he cares about so passionately. Wouldn't you think someone would do something, or maybe just do something other than stare blankly?
Nope. Because if anybody did anything, then there wouldn't really be a movie here. And that's what hurts the believability so much... laughably so. So many critics were quick to say that Michael Shannon's over the top delivery is what hurt the production. But it's not, it's really not. He does a fine job portraying a mentally dangerous man. It's the characters around him that feel so flat that make this character, Brad McCullum, stick out so harshly.
William Defoe, easily the most likable person here, is caught in similar downfall. His performance is fine but his character is so bland, so fake. He listens to these characters testimonies and tries to piece together an idea of what is going on, but he comes off just as clueless as everybody else. He never once says to any of these characters "What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you try to get him help? Why didn't you take ANY action? This could have been prevented," like any real person would do. He never even comments on the absurdity of Brad McCullum's actions in these stories. He just sorts sits there, nods his head, keeps grinning like a robot, and moves on. Why doesn't he react like a normal person, instead of a lifeless plot device? Probably because director Werner Herzog thought it would have messed with the boring atmosphere or the slow timing of the movie. Point is, it's the artistic choices that hurt this movie in the long run. It comes off as just completely laughable.
And speaking of artistic choices, boy are there a mess of them. Perhaps some work on some level I never really grasped, but for the most part they too come as extremely humorous. A few examples: early in the movie the cameraman practically trips and completely slips up a continuous shot, yet it remains in the movie. Why? It was obvious enough for everyone to notice. Why keep it?
Another example, the actors come to complete stops at random points in the movie, appear to freeze, and then stare into the camera for five minutes. This happens multiple times... not once is it explained. Not once does it make sense. Someone may tell you they were trying to imply Brad McCullum's schizophrenia with these scenes, as if his schizophrenia isn't already overwhelmingly apparent in this movie. The truth is their just trying to pull off some David Lynch inspired art, and well, it just feels too contrived. And tooo awkward.
The finest David Lynch-inspired-nonsensical moment comes midway into movie in which we're randomly thrown into a snow-covered setting along with David and two new characters: a hillbilly and a man with dwarfism (sorry I'm not 100% what the politically correct term is so that's what I'm sticking with). Nothing in this five minute scene made any sense to me, I wanted someone to explain to me what had happened, but I really don't think there is anything to explain. A lot of words are spoken in this scene about a subject the audience is never let in on, so it comes off as a bunch of nonsense. Meanwhile the man with dwarfism silently walks around a giant tree stump looking into the sky worryingly. The scene ends beautifully with all three actors, once again, staring awkwardly into the camera. None of these newly introduced characters are ever seen again. Whaaaattt.
The unfortunate thing is I, and so many of those in the audience with me, were hoping that all these awkward moments would come together in the end. These are the only scenes in the movie that feel like they still need explaining when the credits start rolling. Nobody is going to walk away from this movie not knowing what happened, saying they didn't get it. It's a fairly simple and obvious plot. But those artistic scenes. Those will stick with you. You'll walk away wondering why the hell they were there and why they were necessary... other than reminding you were watching a David Lynch production.
Overall, this film is a mess. Simple as that.