HKIFF Notes-Meeting at the End of the World

Jerrell 2022-01-15 08:01:27

If there is a legend among those who make movies now, then it is Herzog. Who Werner Herzog is, I am afraid it is difficult to say in a few words, the only thing that can be determined is that he is a unique figure in the history of film. The crazy temperament of the characters in his movie, the dreams and myths that challenge the limits of nature, and the failures are all intoxicating.

After "Wheel of Time" in 2003, Herzog moved into the field of documentary. Of course, the stories and style he told are still the same as me, so many extremes, so many mysteries, focusing on the real world one by one. "White Diamond" in 2004 tells a great hot air balloon adventure, and "Grizzly Man" in 2005 explores the infinite mysteries of mankind and nature. Finally, in 2007, he came to Antarctica.

The name of the movie is Encounter at the end of world. In my understanding, this End refers to space and time. The space is easier to say, the end of the world is the vast expanse of white wasteland with a sense of disillusionment that "stops here". The lost penguin headed for the ocean three thousand kilometers away unrepentantly. The end of time is in the apocalyptic atmosphere in the Herzog movie, in the extreme day and night of Antarctica, in the pessimistic attitude towards inconvienient truth. It's fascinating to death.

At the beginning, Herzog had already said not another penguin movie. What is very different from documentaries like Emperor Penguin Diaries is that Herzog never dehumanizes those cute animals. And he is always more concerned about people, or people. Just as the former philosopher who drove the crane at the beginning said, "people here are professional dreamers
, they do nothing but dream all the time". All kinds of extraordinary people gather, including those who have practiced bone reduction skills to cross the African continent in the trunk of a truck. Researchers, rock-to-blast biologists, they all have their most unique temperaments, and they are probably the most extraordinary people on earth.

Herzog also rarely added her own German-style cold humor to the documentary, making the film colder. The scenes of snow blindness simulation and the scenes of leaning over to listen to the seals are all laughter.

Watching this movie on the big screen is definitely an unforgettable experience. The profound thinking in Guangwu of Antarctica is really hard to describe in detail. Until the end of the world, we meet here.

PS In fact, the process of watching is still a bit depressing. Because it is the Asian premiere, the movie does not have subtitles. And my English is actually. . . It's not as good as I expected, and Herzog's accent, as you know, is heavier. So about 20% of the content is guessed. What's worse is that the Hong Kong audience's super love to laugh at the scene made me very depressed. Is it really funny, or they imploded themselves, they can only watch it again after rip comes out.

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Extended Reading
  • Kara 2022-03-28 09:01:08

    Curious what happened to the penguin afterwards who heads to the mountain! How bizarra the sounds made by the sea lion! The director tries to create a spiritual feeling of the world thr the pov from some wonderful and weird ppl work in Antarctic. Some interviews r sorta akward.

  • Laila 2022-04-22 07:01:47

    HKIFF Cultral Center

Encounters at the End of the World quotes

  • Werner Herzog: As if we had wanted to leave one remnant of our presence on this planet, they would find a frozen sturgeon mysteriously hidden away beneath the mathematically precise true south pole. They stash it back away into its frozen shrine for another eternity.

  • Peter Gorham: The neutrino is the most ridiculous particle you could imagine. A billion neutrinos went through my nose as we were talking. A trillion, a trillion of them went through my nose just now. And they did nothing to me. They passed through all of the matter around us continuously in a huge, huge blast of particles that does nothing at all. They almost exist in a separate universe, but we know as physicists we can measure them, we can make precise predictions and measurements. They exist, but we can't get our hands on them.