Rating: 
Summary: "Animal Farm" with Dwarves
Review: A revolution has gripped a remote village/prison/asylum inhabited entirely by dwarves. Inside a fenced compound, one dwarf holds another one hostage while the rest of the little people taunt the captor, threatening to destroy everything. Then the tiny barbarians at the gate gleefully run amok. They set flowers on fire, crucify monkeys, vandalize a car, and unsuccessfully attempt sexual relations. In the climax, the captor apparently kills the hostage (the action occurs off-screen) and then hurries away until he confronts a gnarled tree. He angrily accuses the tree of pointing at him. The last five minutes of the film show one of the revolutionaries cackling at a distraught camel. Although the action can be described, the plot is not prominent; this film exists as a series of loosely connected scenes. These scenes are both hilarious and disturbing; often I found myself simultaneously amused, agitated, and confused. For example, the incessant, maniacal and high-pitched laughter that accompanies the havoc wrought by the Lilliputian horde is extremely unnerving yet engrossing. Though this film is unlikely to be on any of those prevalent best-of-the-millennium lists, I believe that director Werner Herzog has created the celluloid equivalent of a Goya painting. If you are a devotee of the fringes of humanity and think that the cinema should be more than just simple narratives, definitely watch this astounding film.
Rating:
Summary: alas!
Review: Bored of knowing what is going to happen on american happy-ending, politically correct, cheap-edifying, always-making-sense, made-for-getting-academy awards movies? Take a break: watch this film. Herzog in his best exploration of the unconcious, some may say. What is it about watching our fears take over? Let that camel alone! This movie was so unnerving for me 15 years ago that I still remember it in full.
Rating:
Summary: It'll make you throw your drugs away...
Review: Herzog is a genius! He made this movie, so annoying,but so interesting and well written, excellently directed, and acted beyond the talent of the actors... Herzog really brought out the best in the cast!!! A collectors item 4sure...
Rating:
Summary: Most annoying movie of all time
Review: Herzog is a genius! He made this movie, so annoying,but so interesting and well written, excellently directed, and acted beyond the talent of the actors... Herzog really brought out the best in the cast!!! A collectors item 4sure...
Rating:
Summary: MAD MAD MAD...MAD
Review: I can't believe I hadn't seen or even heard about this insanely maniacal film for so many years. Although I've seen some of Herzog's later work with mixed reactions, EVEN DWARFS has made an undeniable and indelible mark on my brain. I thought it was going to be some stupid midget comedy (ala "Terror of Tiny Town"), but instead it's a raw, disturbing nightmare of a world gone mad....and every actor in it is a midget (or "little person"). Don't expect "Wizard of Oz" here, folks.... there are many stark images and an increasingly ominous mood throughout. Coupled with some scenes of mild animal abuse, you may want to keep your "little people" from watching this one. However, even with the sense of dread and psychosis, there is plenty of humor generated throughout from the cast of midgets who obviously gave their all. And Herzog's "real life" approach to filming makes his characters even more real -- they may look at the camera or react in real terror or laugh --- it's almost like Herzog has pulled us as viewers into his celluloid nightmare and we find ourselves reacting the same way as some of his cast are to the surrounding events. This is ultra-cinema. Anchor Bay's DVD has a very enlightening commentary track by Herzog who clears up that the camel's knee ligaments were not severed for the film (the camel was not hurt in any way) and talks about how one of the midgets got run over and caught on fire during the shooting (he lived). He speaks about how stupid chickens are, too, and after you see the mouse scene with the stupid chicken walking back and forth a million times, you'll agree. Crazy actor Crispin Glover is also on the commentary track because apparently he was inspired by Herzog's film to make his own related upcoming "dwarfs" film (I can't wait). EVEN DWARFS may not be for all tastes (if you find stuff like "Forrest Gump" entertaining - skip this one!). But, if you are MAD MAD MAD and like stuff like "Eraserhead" and "Gummo" - then check out these mad midgets. "Hehehehehehehheheehehehe"....
Rating:
Summary: It'll make you throw your drugs away...
Review: I remember sitting in an old time theater with Udo Kier and several other film fanatics "somewhere" in the northwest (I don't remember what year it was though) on a ton of hallucinogenics and waiting for this movie to begin. I had no expectations other than a story that was told to me by (I think it was ) Kier. I have not checked the validity of this story, but I love the mythos of it. Someone can correct me if I am telling tall tales, but here's the gist of it: Herr Herzog was apparently very ill in the late sixties and believed he would die. He wrote this screenplay in his hospital bed, a cathartic way to pass his last days away. Well...as we know, he didn't bite it, but he went on to direct this film with morbid determination. As the film progressed, a dwarf (maybe more than one) was injured during shooting. Werner, as an apology, gathered the cast together, brought them to top of a steep, thorned and thickety hillside, stripped down bare, and threw himself into the brambles. Bleeding and naked, he instructed everyone one to get back to work. I thought to myself: That is rare dedication. Then the film began. I don't really want to give anything away, but I've seen Herzog's other films and this one is his most mind bending, funny, and disturbing film. I swore off hallucinogens halfway through the film, realizing that they weren't necessary anymore, never to do them again. I've seen the film many, many times since (stone sober) and it's still as moving as the first time I saw it...and Hombre is a bona-fide amazing film persona. It's a avant garde cinema classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Patience, young viewers!
Review: I saw this on the big screen at a sparsely attended $1-showing in a notoriously liberal college, and several viewers left before it was over, frustrated, confused, and perhaps even disturbed. The novelty of the all-dwarf cast will wear off quickly for almost everyone, and one must be nearly as strange as the film itself to sit through it all. That said, I'm glad I did. The others touch on Hombre, who steals the show, and I'll just mention that there's some really moving LOVE scenes in here too. There are also extended scenes of a car going around in circles, food fights, tormenting blind midgets, and a big dead sow. This movie won't let you love it, but one feels closed-minded in turning away.
Rating: 
Summary: This is 'ART'?
Review: I suppose this is Art, 'cinema' and not a movie, so maybe we use different standards?
Even so, I found it boring, annoying, and unpleasant. The 'message' was so unsubtle that I kept looking for something else, which did not appear. How many times and for how long does one need to see someone laughing maniaically or a driverless car running in circles before one gets the point?
The use of dwarves seems in this later day, with our more evolved view of sexism, racism, agism, and whatever else, to be somewhat exploitative (sizism?).
I can understand the viewpoint of those who find this film wonderful, but I feel that the rave reviews should be balanced by another opinion.
Rating:
Summary: LOOK AT THE TITLE, NEED I SAY MORE
Review: If you are looking for a good movie to get the mother/father in law to stop calling u son, this is the one!!!! Herzog does a great job getting these people to do what he wants, what i found out later was that it really wasn't that easy. From the "bad" boys to the ones that just laugh this movie isn't all really about "dwarfs" you could put the same characters into a high-school setting and come to the same conclusions. This is more a real life movie than most people think!!!
Rating:
Summary: LOOK AT THE TITLE, NEED I SAY MORE
Review: If you are looking for a good movie to get the mother/father in law to stop calling u son, this is the one!!!! Herzog does a great job getting these people to do what he wants, what i found out later was that it really wasn't that easy. From the "bad" boys to the ones that just laugh this movie isn't all really about "dwarfs" you could put the same characters into a high-school setting and come to the same conclusions. This is more a real life movie than most people think!!!
|
