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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 28, 2006 11:51:29 GMT -5
I haven't seen it, but I read this about it, which made me laugh: (by Bill Simmons on ESPN.com) I wanted to pass along a few e-mails from the past two weeks:
From Mitch Levy in New York: "You have to write a story about 'Grizzly Man.' It's supposed to be a serious documentary about a guy who lives in Alaska every summer with the bears (who eventually eat him). It's hilarious at every level from the absolute wing-nut bear lover, to the pretentious German filmmaker, and the wacky casts of friends that get interviewed and tell nonsensical stories about him. The message boards at imdb.com are a fight between the naturalists who think it was a beautiful movie and those who think this was better than 'Spinal Tap.'"
Mitch, I'm with you: It's the first documentary since "American Movie" that ranks a perfect 100 on the Unintentional Comedy Scale. First of all, it's directed by Werner Herzog, who (incredibly) decided to narrate the movie even though he sounds like he's auditioning for a Hans & Frans sketch. Second, the Grizzly Man guy is an absolute maniac and can't be described even remotely. You just have to see him in action. He's surpassed Mark Byars (from "Paradise Lost") and Mark Borchardt for me, and I never thought I would say that. Third, there are so many ridiculously funny moments (like when Grizzly Man claims that he lost out to Woody Harrelson as Coach's replacement on "Cheers," or when he's playing with the bear poop) that you can't even believe it's happening as it's happening. I kept thinking that this was like the "Blair Witch Project," some sort of elaborate hoax by the creators of "Mr. Show." But it's not. And fourth, this is the first movie that I can remember that glorifies someone who's completely insane. I mean, COMPLETELY. Utterly and totally.
(You have to rent this movie -- it's disturbing, hilarious, creepy, haunting, you name it. I won't even spoil the ending for you. Just see it.)sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?entryDate=20060214&name=simmons
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Post by RafaelH on Feb 28, 2006 17:16:27 GMT -5
I loved the movie and Werner Herzog is one of my favorite directors of all time. I totally disagree with the guy in the email. First off its clear he doesn't know anything about Mr. Show since they did sketches and weren't trying to fool anybody. It wasn't punk'd. Second Herzog never tries to glorify anything. In fact his whole point was the the guy was nuts and that he was a sad pathetic guy who just got lost with those bears and tried to humanize them as if they were at the same level as him, when they cleary weren't. I think its horrible that he got his girlfriend killed and for that reason you can't feel sorry at him as much as the girl. But still the guy is so sad and pathetic. It shows how much working on scale matters. How he tried to save some bears when in the end it doesn't mean much, because they aren't individuals and the forest and area is so huge, that he was just doing stupid stuff that didn't matter and he thought he was changing the world.
Im glad its the most controversial ommission of the oscars. It should have won best doc.
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Post by Bix Dugan on Feb 28, 2006 18:07:18 GMT -5
Now I'll have to see this.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 4, 2006 11:00:22 GMT -5
It is more about mental illness that it is about bears. I would never say this guy had it coming but I really didn't like him. All through the movie I kept saying to myself "What an idiot." For all his communing with nature he didn't understand it's true nature very well.
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donmac
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Post by donmac on Mar 6, 2006 22:53:49 GMT -5
I saw it with a couple of friends who knew nothing about it going in, and they both thought it was fake, just like The Blair Witch Project. I think I convinced them that it was real, but Werner Herzog's interview subjects were definitely an odd bunch who all acted rehearsed, particularly the "Do from Heaven's Gate" like autopsy doctor who examined the remains - that guy was scary weird.
And as a fan of a number of Herzog's films, I was surprised at the lack of throughout research he did on this project, because the movie has some major mistakes: - The claim that Timothy Treadwell was runner-up to Woody Harrelson in getting the role on Cheers (nothing has ever backed up this dubious claim)
- The claim that, on the death tape, the attacked Treadwell told his girlfriend to run away and save herself (he actually told her to try to help him by hitting the bear with a frying pan, which may be the real reason she was also killed - she probably p.o.-ed the bear and it went after her)
- The claim that Treadwell left on time but then returned back to the wild due an argument with an airline ticket agent, and that's when he & his girlfriend got killed (in fact, he & his gf never left on time and stayed in the wild longer than usual because one of "his" bears was missing. When he saw the missing bear again and knew it was OK, he & his gf then were going to leave, but were killed the day before the plane to pick them up arrived)
Given how worthless Herzog's interview segments are, but how great Treadwell's own footage in the wild was, I really think someone else could take the footage Treadwell shot and make a better movie than the one Herzog put together.
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MDH
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Post by MDH on Mar 7, 2006 7:50:35 GMT -5
I don't think Herzog claims that Treadwell lost out on the role of Woddy on Cheers. Wasn't it one of the interview subjects saying that it was something Treadwell had told them about his acting career?
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Post by Ratso on Mar 7, 2006 11:31:24 GMT -5
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Post by doctorz on Mar 7, 2006 12:05:22 GMT -5
My wife forced me to watch this and it made me cringe. I don't think watching a mentally ill person destroy themselves is one bit funny or enlightening. As far a Werner Herzog is concerned he ought to be ashamed of himself for trying to palm this off as as anything other than an exercise in exploitation. It begs the question, "What's wrong with German People?"
As far as this nut bar's friends are concerned I think they are partially responsible for this guy's death. If they weren't as screwed up as he was they could have intervened and got him the help he desperately needed. I'm more disgusted with them than nature boy. I hope they rot in hell.
The real victim of this movie is the bear. He was shot for trying to ready himself for winter hibernation. Shooting him sucks.
I hope I never see this piece of poo again.
Any questions?
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donmac
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Post by donmac on Mar 7, 2006 20:06:38 GMT -5
I don't think Herzog claims that Treadwell lost out on the role of Woddy on Cheers. Wasn't it one of the interview subjects saying that it was something Treadwell had told them about his acting career? Yes, it was. It was Treadwell's parents who claimed this, which makes it sound like some sort of stretched truth lie he told them to impress them. (I mean, I don't doubt that he tried out for the role, but simply didn't get it like dozens of other struggling actors, not get into a dead-heat run-off for the role with Woody Harrelson). And I know Herzog didn't say it... but he did edit that into his film and not correct it in a later voiceover. So now you see reviews of the film that claim this little item as fact, when it's not.
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donmac
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Post by donmac on Mar 7, 2006 20:12:42 GMT -5
Pretty good evaluation Don - however, I think the interview subjects were genuine. I've seen many people in real life that act as odd as them - and it seems to, sorry for generalizing here but it's true, be mostly the more extreme enviornmental nuts. I know that they were real people, but their interviews looked rehearsed - like Herzog did multiple takes of some of them. The worst was the "return of the watch" scene, which was clearly staged and rehearsed for the cameras. No, saw it on DVD (it did play in the big screen here in ATL, but its run in the theaters was too short for even me to catch it). Also caught the beginning of the Discovery Channel broadcast to see the David Letterman segment (which was cut out of the DVD due to a request by Letterman).
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donmac
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Post by donmac on Mar 8, 2006 19:48:32 GMT -5
Why did Letterman do that? Was it because he cussed out Letterman in one part of the film (toward the end when he rants into the camera). Letterman thought the segment was darkly morbid because his little joke accurately predicted Treadwell's death. They still could've left the clip in, given that it was just a request, but decided to make Dave happy instead.
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