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Fantasia Festival: Final Editionby Ari
Werner Herzog’s magical new blend of reality and fiction defies simple classification. In fact, it’s difficult to even remotely provide an adequate description for what he attempts and succeeds with this unusual, fictitious, thematic, factual, and comedic sci-fi experiment. The film begins with a title card that states, “A Sci-Fi Fantasy by Werner Herzog”. I think it’s only fair to say that this unlike any sci-fi movie ever made, and a perfect example of Herzog’s individualism, ambition, and consistency as a cinematic artist. The Wild Blue Yonder has the feelings and eccentricities and beauties and passions that define his work, but it’s fused together in an electrifying new way that signals a continuing evolution of his craft. More than any other filmmaker I can think of, Herzog loves to try new things with each film, delving into experimental and idiosyncratic ideas that may or many not actually work. The Wild Blue Yonder is arguably his most inventive film to date, and only a filmmaker of exceptional talent could make something like this so effective.
Grizzly Man merged with The Man Who Fell to Earth is the best I can do with describing the tone and plot of The Wild Blue Yonder. Imagine those two movies combined, and you have relatively solid picture of what this movie is. Well, sort of. The plot, which is told in ten chapters, is about an alien (Brad Dourif) who reveals the secrets behind his journey to Earth and plans for building a civilization. This segues into his ramblings about Roswell conspiracies, the nature of the universe, and finally, man’s trivial quest to his dying home planet (The Wild Blue Yonder) and their return to Earth. It’s basically an alien tell-all that uses science-fact in-between the fictitious elements to provide a strange quagmire of interesting ideas and theory. Herzog intercuts NASA footage of an actual space mission to represent the voyage to the alien planet, and Antarctic diving expeditions to double as the Wild Blue Yonder itself. Astronomy lectures and mathematical theorizing is used to create an even greater sense of fact to the story. This amalgam of visuals and concepts and fiction is extremely peculiar, yet absolutely captivating. The actual plot is really just the surface of a fascinating sensory experience using visuals and sound to almost hypnotize the audience. The space footage is as mesmerizing as the sea expeditions are entrancing. The Wild Blue Yonder is a visual masterpiece - not because of amazing cinematography or impressive effects, but because of the real, astonishing sights in and above our world. This, of course, symbolizes one of the many underlining themes of this very strange film. The concept of the great unknown is endlessly fascinating, and right here on Earth lies wonders and mysterious that are just as alien as the secrets of the universe. Herzog also inserts sly political jabs at human dominance and imperialistic control of the environment, while giving a bleak opinion on the chaotic nature of our existence. Like Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, the outlook of The Wild Blue Yonder deals with creating our own demise with technological advancements and inherently doomed conquests. You know, the usual ideas behind the best sci-fi. The message is that we’re all simply a spec of dust in the infinity of space, and no matter how hard we try, the beauty of the world will survive. Interestingly enough, that’s exactly what I was taught by my Astronomy professor in College. And even though humanity may be doomed or extinct in the not-too-distant future, it’s still a relatively optimistic attitude towards the importance and awe of nature. Plus, Brad Dourif is a fascinating oddity himself, and hearing him disappointingly talk about his species is priceless. “Our ancestors were great scientists, but the journey was long and boring and, by the time we finally arrived, we all just sucked”.
It was an uneven, but interesting year for the Fantasia International Film Festival. Despite its shortcomings, a number of films were still good enough to warrant the trip. As long as they continue to present intriguing foreign films, I’ll continue to join the over 75,000 that attend this festival each year.
The Wild Blue Yonder I took a bullet - don’t ever see these films: Till next year........ |
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