One of Herzog's more accessible films, about the American dream not quite being what it's cracked up to be. An ex con, a prostitute, and an old man make their way from the crime and hopelessness of their lives in Berlin, for greater problems and ultimate destruction in America. More than just being a criticism of America, I think the film points out how tragedy, despair, and absurdity, are not located in any one country, they are everywhere, and even if they weren't we would carry them with us. The immigrant story is one of escape, and for Herzog and Stroszek there is no escape, no matter amusing trying on different roles and locations might be. In the end were all a dancing chickens, bass playing ducks, rabbits riding fire trucks, and broken ski lifts going in endless circles, and that's Herzog's imagery from the films final moments, not mine
I?ve always said that Werner Herzog is probably a better icon than he is a director, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The guy is a crazy mofo, and when his movies channel that personality they are really interesting to watch. Stroszek doesn?t have the sense of danger that his jungle movies like Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, or Rescue Dawn had, nor does it have the stranger than fiction quality of his documentaries. Instead Herzog finds strangeness in rural Wisconsin, and of course there is plenty of insanity to be found in that wretched hellhole ;). The film is competently made, but I can?t really call this master-level filmmaking. There?s a lot of interesting stuff here, but Herzog has made more interesting works.
An incredible story of one man's life, based very closely on the real life of Bruno S, the man who plays the title character. It has a sort if biting irony and cynicism to it, and of course, the dancing chicken is legendary.
Interesting things abound in this magical, bleak film: dancing chickens, mobile homes, colorful idiot hicks, banker schmucks, country and western songs - a panoply of American mythology looked at depressingly but lucidly. America is shiny and glamorous but that?s just the surface, the persona or mask. What?s behind the mask isn?t that pretty and the uglier and more fragmented the truth becomes the thicker the veneer that is needed to fool others and oneself. This film is about that duality but it?s also an adventure that?s enjoyable. -
Features some amazing footage, and the storytelling is great. But what makes this movie so what it is, is nothing but the characters and everything they do.
The most depressing movie I have ever seen. Where most movies tend to just force the audience to accept a character's downfall, you witness Bruno's pain and descent into despair and sympathize him with all of your heart. The ending is extremely strange, and strangely fitting.
An outstanding Herzog masterpiece. The American Dream is flushed down the toilet. Some say it's incredibly depressing. Others find it hysterical. Either way, it's totally original. Plus, it has a dancing chicken!
It gets everyone into hysterics because Ian Curtis killed himself after watching it, or whatever it is that they say. Maybe he was feeling too much ISOLATION. *music*
The sort of film that has a way of getting under your skin and revealing hidden layers the more you watch it. The story is familiar, the failure of a dream, The American Dream in particular, but what's remarkable is that Herzog never beats you over the head with it, never criticizes his characters for their decision, simply watches their decline. The final scene is classic, on the surface absurd and inconsequential, but it suggests so much.
Not the kind of film you'll forget any time soon after watching it and very difficult to describe in words. The characters are vivid and the imagery is mesmerising.
A great oddity of a film based around an alcoholic and his two companions being displaced to rural Wisconsin. Herzog keeps to his standard of not delivering a Hollywood-style payoff and that is one of the things I liked about this film, and all of his movies I've seen. I wonder if this film had any influence on Win Wenders' Paris, Texas - because a lot of the later stages of Stroszek seemed almost a prelude to some of the images Wenders used in that film. A good film with an ending that is a theatre of brilliant absurdity that just has to be seen.
One thing I've always liked about Werner Herzog is how he despised formality and constantly fought against long-established hollywood conventions. He rarely felt the need to end his movies on a happy note and often used a number of non-actors in his films. Herzog specifically wrote the screenplay for Stroszek with Bruno S. in mind, a man who had been in mental institutions or jail for much of his life and who essentially plays himself in the title role. Some have seen this film as an uncompromising attack on the concept of the "American Dream" but I see it as a film about people so peculiar and eccentric that they wouldn't fit in anywhere, even Plainfield, "Railroad Flats" Wisconsin. Herzog brilliantly weaves extremely odd yet compelling images into an astonishing tapestry, culminating in one of the most unforgettable scenes in the history of cinema.
Definitely off the wall, but then again, so are all of Werner Herzog's films. This one's definitely open for interpretation, and that's a good thing. All great films should be open for interpretation and analysis like this one, otherwise, why else would they be great if they could be analzyed and discussed?
MCT:August 22, 2008
MCT:June 27, 2008
MCT:May 7, 2008
MCT:April 24, 2008
MCT:April 20, 2008
