Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)

Welcome! I have been very poor at keeping this up, but times have been quite busy lately. However, no worries. I am back and will have a lot more time for new (to me) movies and share my experiences with you!

For those of you who have not yet read the first official entry of this blog, scroll down and read my experience with Truffaut's The 400 Blows.

This week, I write to you regarding a short 20 minute film. The focus of this short is filmmaker Werner Herzog. I have only seen 3 of HIS films (Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man and Wrath of God) and I must say, I have not really been too impressed. However, he is considered a master filmmaker, so I will continue to try to find a film of his that I enjoy.

This is not one of his own films. This film is directed by Les Blank, who according to IMDB, has 36 films credited to him as director. I had not seen, nor heard of any of them prior to this. Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, as stated in the film, started as a bet. Herzog's friend Errol Morris had an idea for a documentary but seemed to be to unsure of himself to go out and make it. The friend that he is, Herzog challenged Morris with a bet, that if Morris can finish his documentary (Gates of Heaven, wonderful fim) that he would eat his own shoe.

Yes. The title is literal.

So, in this 20minute short, we are invited to watch Herzog cook his shoe with salt, garlic, duck fat etc., and yes, EAT HIS LEATHER SHOE in front of a live audience.

I had heard of this short years ago, but after my experiences with Herzog's films, I had intended to avoid him as well as I could. However, this title popped into my head recently and I had luckily found the film on YouTube (Which will be posted below) and I gave in.

I think I do like Herzog, the man, a bit more. It is apparent that he is a man of his word (obviously, he eats a shoe.) not only in elation to this bet, but as you will see in the film, on set of one of his own films (Even Dwarfs Start Small) he bet the cast that if they all survive the shoot, he would jump into a cactus bush. He points out that he still has some cactus pins in his knee, years later.

So, in short, this film has led me to believe that there is still hope in my finding a Herzog feature film that I can enjoy. The search continues!

Before the film though, I must say that I grew a fondness for this man near the very beginning with this one quote:

"I'm quite convinced that cooking is the only alternative to filmmaking."

Well said sir. And nooooow the movie folks!

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-Arthur Born

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Arthur's Top 10 Summer Movies!

Ok, I promised a new "First time" blog for this weekend. Hopefully, I will get to that in a bit here. Still picking a film. BUt, to hold you over, I thought I'd do ya all a quick June-August Summer movie list!

First, I know a lot of people consider May in the batch of summer movies, but May is passed. I don't need to tell you what movies I wanted to see LAST month haha. BUt a quick run through anyway:

-Wolverine: I loved the first 2 X-Men movies, grew up on the comics and cartoon, but Wolverine was always the LEAST interesting character of the batch. I'll rent it.

-Star Trek: I've never been big on Star Trek. I've seen Wrath of Kahn and a few NExt Generation Eps, but thats about it. However, for a year I was hugely excited for this flick. Unfortunately, it seems in most cases if I don't see a movie opening weekend... DVD

-Angels and Demons: If I hadn't worked on this film the day of the Pope Funeral Scene, I'd have no interest. Instead I have little interest.

-Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum 2: Nah.

- Drag Me to Hell: Despite being a PG-13 horror flick, I'm interested in what Sam Raimi can do in the genre these days after being away from it.

- UP: This is the only May release I actually DID see.  Definitely worth checking out. Id place it in the 2nd tier of Pixar releases. Right between Incredibles and Ratatoullie.

OK, onto the future! Top 10 movies I am excited about seeing this summer:

10: Orphan

I know its wishful thinking, but I have high hopes with this summer horror flick. The trailer reminds me of the Good Son, which was a crazy creepy film.  The horror genre has been hugely lacking with the "torture porn" as people refer to it, of Saw, Hostel and all the others. It'd be nice to see a good spooky flick take control of the genre again.

9: Funny People

Not gonna lie, so far in my eyes, everything that Judd Apatow has touched has been pretty much golden.  Of course we have Seth Rogen again, which is welcome from me, and we are throwing in Adam Sandler.  While Sandler has made some really bad choices lately (Zohan) I think this one will give him a push to be a little more picky.

8: Halloween 2

A lot of people hated Rob Zombie's Halloween "re-imagining" a couple years back.  I love the original film, but I didn't mind Zombie's take.  I'd rather a man who adores the horror genre to be making the Halloween flicks over some guy who directed a video game or music video or two.  Keep it up Zombie, I think eventually you will hit a damn good movie.

7: Away We Go

Last night I saw The Hangover over in Santa Monica.  More on that in a bit. Before the movie started, I was presented with a trailer for Away We Go which also opened this weekend.  The film stars Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski as a couple with no money, traveling the country in order to find the right place to bring up their soon to be newborn child.  The film is directed by Sam Mendes, who did American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Road to Perdition, etc. While jealous that he got to marry the beautiful Kate Winslett, the man knows how to make movies. This one is in limited release, so if it does happen to be available to see near you, jump on it.

6: The Hangover

Speaking of the Hangover... see this movie as soon as ya can. I laughed my ass off the entire film. And yes, I guess it's kind of cheating to put a movie I've already seen on the list, but quite frankly, I don't give a damn about Transformers or G.I. Joe, so I had to put something here...  But yes, see it tonight, tomorrow whenever, but see it. These guys are goin places.

5: 500 Days Of Summer

This film was pointed out to me by Dan Zimmerman (twitter @xdannox). Zooey Deschanel is in it - Nuff said. Though, for the female readers... Its a love story, that (according to the trailer) is NOT a love story.  I don't know that I can explain this one well enough, so check out the trailer.

4: Whatever Works

It's no secret that I will see or read anything Woody Allen creates.  This film, in my mind, is a long time coming.  What better team than Mr. Allen and Larry David? How has this not been done already? (Technically it had, as David had minor roles in Radio Days and New York Stories). Woody is finally returning home to NYC after a 4 film stint in Europe.  Allen does return to London with his next film though, but hopefully this will lure him back to his films in the city he loves.  Not to say his Euro films weren't good! Match Point is probably his best made film in his career, while Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a beauty in itself.  Can't wait for this one.

3: Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarrentino began writing this film at least 10 years ago.  Its about damn time he put it together too.  Brad Pitt stars along with a decently strong supporting cast. I'm not one for war films, but I think this could be pretty good. Its QT! 

Speaking of Tarrentino, its a shame we now won't get to see the rumored Kill Bill Vol 3. If you have not heard by now, David "Bill" Carradine was found dead a few days ago in Thailand. Shame.

2: Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt

If you saw Borat, then I probably don't need to explain this to you. If you did not see Borat, we probably aren't friends, and you probably aren't reading this :)

1: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Another film I shouldn't have to explain to you.  Back before the last Potter film, I'd never had imaged that this would be on any list of mine.  I've never read the books (I know) and before the last flick released, I rush watched all the others to ready myself.  I loooved that last movie.  Forgetting the first 2 Potter movies, this series KILLS Lord of the Rings in the fantasy genre. (My opinion, obviously). This one made the list of my top films to see for the YEAR in 2008, but the release was pushed back a year to be closer to next years final film.  I don't care. Its here and I'm ready!

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So there ya go. I may revisit this topic later in the week and tell ya why I don't care about the other BIG movies this summer such as G.I. Joe and Transformers etc. We'll see.  As far as an "Arthur's First Time" blog, hopefully I will get that in tonight or tomorrow.

Again, thanks for reading, please leave comments.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE click the ads/links on my blog so I can earn some money for this stuff! You don't have to pay or buy anything, just a simple click helps me out. The more you click, the more movies I can see and tell ya about!

Thanks again!

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The 400 Blows

Hello! If you are here reading this blog, it is highly likely that you know me.  If you know me, I'd say its fairly safe to assume that you know that I love film. However, I am not the typical "film lover."  Yes, I love old French films, I love the occasional experimental film and of course indie flicks.  You may say that sounds like a typical film snob.  As pointed out to me a while back by my good friend Alex Berry, I am of a strange film loving breed.  I can watch a Kurosawa film or a Truffaut film or anything that your typical "better than you" snob would watch and highly enjoy, but I will also gladly give an astounding hands down, thumbs up, 5 star, standing ovation to a movie like Tommy Boy or There's Something ABout Mary.

This blog, as titled, will allow me to share first time viewing experiences with you.  I have recently come to grasp that there are hundreds of movies that as a film student, film actor and most importantly film lover, should have seen already.  So, what I intend to do here is watch a new (to me) movie or two a week and share my thoughts with you and hopefully convince you to open your film watching horizons.  Some movies I will love, some movies I will hate and hopefully it will start conversation between you and I, between what we love or do not love.

I will warn that I have never been a great writer when it comes to analyzing books, films or anything, so this is a work in progress.  I don't always add enough info, or sometimes I will go far off topic and provide too much info. Hard to say!  Mainly, I'd like to use this blog to just bounce thoughts off of its readers (like any other blog I guess) but, I am using films as a topic starter. Hell, I can tell ya now that I will on occasion hardly even write about the film in question.  We shall see.

Film #1: Les Quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows)

Director: Francois Truffaut

Year: 1959

Language: French

Arthur's Rating: **** out of ****

The first film I have chosen to write about is a film I have been quite aware of for many years.  I knew I needed to see it, and I knew I would love it. Why did I put it off you ask? Well, sometimes films can be so powerful to me, that it can overwhelming. This may seem silly to you, but I believed until now, that I had not been ready to take in Truffaut's "masterpiece."  Before viewing the 400 Blows, I had seen two of Francois Truffaut's films, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (average) and DAY FOR NIGHT (very good).  Prior to becoming a film maker, Truffaut was a film critic.  Check out the books that feature his reviews, good stuff. Truffaut is a huge inspiration for my favorite director, Woody Allen, so there is an obvious attraction to his films for me.

The 400 Blows begins with credits over shots of the city of Paris. At the time of this filming, it was rare for films to be shot outside of the studio walls.  Truffaut was a large part of the French New Wave of film and many of his techniques are widely seen in film today. 

The first non-credits scene take place in a classroom. This scene struck me as familiar right off the bat. In elementary school, I found pleasure in trying to get away with things I should not have been doing. This took place mostly in my 3rd grade class with Mr. Donelson.  In this scene, our hero, Antoine Doinel, is caught taking part in the passing around of a pinup photo. Antoine is 14 years old in the scene, where as when I had been causing trouble I was 8 or 9 years old. However, there was an immediate connection with the film.

Now, the city of Paris is of course a complete opposition of Henrietta, Ohio (For those of you reading this who are not aware, this is where I grew up). While of course I love Henrietta area, I believe it be perhaps a good thing that I grew up in the smaller farming community.  If I had this huge beautiful city surrounding me, which held who knows how many cinema houses, within walking distance, I believe I would've missed a lot of school.  After Antoine is accused of plagiarism, he and his friend begin passing up school to commit minor shoplifting (to pay for) and viewing of films. Truffaut, who has confirmed that The 400 Blows is heavily based on his childhood, says that it was very common for his schoolmates and himself to ditch class for movies. He explains that because of adults all being at work, the early day film audiences were students. Whichever theater opened first, got the customers.

Antoine is not really a bad kid. He just seems to be in the habit of wrong place, wrong time.  I have been there, and plenty of the friends I grew up with have been there. 

Another scene that I absolutely loved puts Antoine in a carnival ride which I believe is called a rotor.  Its the big circle that spins and uses centrifugal force and one's body weight to pin one against the wall.  The freedom he is feeling is very recognizable to me.  Being a 14 year old boy, there is rarely anything that feels more like imprisonment than school.  When one is out of school instead of being in as expected, a sense comes over you that there is nothing you can't do.  Of course, being in the farmlands without a drivers license, being free doesn't hugely lend to much adventure haha.  

In the end, (without spoiling anything hugely for those who have not scene the film) Antoine finds himself at the edge of the ocean.  He earlier states that he has never seen the ocean, but would one day like to. This is a pretty big moment in a kids life.  Antoine had made it to somewhere he may have assumed would either never happen, or not happen until longer in his life. Right before the film wraps up, Antoine turns and looks directly into the camera. Freeze frame.  Now what? Antoine would likely soon be caught by the authority that he was running from and he is at the edge of the world he knows. There is no where for him to go. He is unaware if his life will continue in crime or what else could possibly come in his future

Despite the age  of this film, I believe Truffaut really captured the feelings and thoughts of a 14 year old boy (give or take) perfectly. Jean-Pierre Léaud delivers a phenomenal performance. It is certainly rare that an actor at such a young age (who had no previous experience) can bring so much to a film. Truffaut would at times in the filming, allow Jean-Pierre to improve his lines, and then they would go from there. Most memorably is the scene in which Antoine is meeting with a psychiatrist.  Also worth pointing out, is the beautiful score of the film by Jean Constantin.  While of course the cars and some buildings and clothes are out of date, the performances and story of  The 400 Blows does not seem to have dated by any means. This is a film I believe everyone should see at least once. I will probably look to that I see this film at least once a year. Check out the Criterion release as it has plenty of cool bonus features such as television appearances by Truffaut, some footage from Cannes film festival and a couple informative commentaries.

*****

Along with being a lover of cinema, over the last few years I have found a love for food and cooking.  I intend to hopefully continue this blog on my first viewings of films for the first time and to combine it with new foods I have never had prior to.  When I viewed The 400 Blows, it was quite late at night and as those of you who are follwing me on Twitter know, I am currently trying to drop a bit of weight, so a late night meal wouldn't be such a great idea ;) So, for future blogs, look forward to new foods, their preparation and more.  I'd like to make the food correspond to the film I am watching. We'll see how that goes :)

Anyhow, thanks for reading! Please comment here if you wish, send me a message on MySpace/Facebook or however else you wish to contact me.  Let me know how to make this a better blog (besides making my writing better ;) ) Take care, and enjoy the movies!

+Next week I would like to blog on either the western classic SHANE or possibly the hugely popular BAND OF BROTHERS mini-series from HBO.  Any thoughts?

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