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Der große Verhau [The Big Mess] (Alexander Kluge, 1971)
Feb
19
Copernicus born
Space ships made out of all sorts of junk pass a moon. DPs: Thomas Mauch & Alfred Tichawsky.
A film about outer space for Nicolaus Copernicus' birthday (1473).
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Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen [Even Dwarfs Started Small] (Werner Herzog, 1970)
Dec
30
National Short Person Day
Some of the main cast members, with three women in focus. They're outdoors and several animals, including a kneeling dromedary, can be spotted in the background. DP: Thomas Mauch.
A short main character for National Short Person Day (USA).
“When we behave nobody cares. But when we are bad nobody forgets.”
– Hombré
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Willi Tobler und der Untergang der 6. Flotte [Willi Tobler and the Decline of the 6th Fleet] (Alexander Kluge, 1969)
Apr
27
One of many many handmade, overly complicated title cards. The date is May/June 42. DPs: Dietrich Lohmann, Thomas Mauch & Alfred Tichawsky.
And November 9, January 14, and January 21.
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Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977)
Sep
9
German Language Day
A warm Railroad Flats, Wis. “Willcomen” [sic] for (LtR) Scheitz, Eva, and Bruno, with Mr Scheitz's nephew (Clayton Szalpinski) squeezed between his “Onkellein” and Eva. DP: Thomas Mauch.
Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.), his friends Eva (Eva Mattes) and Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz, responsible for the fairy-tale music you hear in this film) decide to leave dreary #Berlin behind and move to #Wisconsin where the latter's nephew lives. A new life, with dreams of music and animal magnetism, awaits them there.
“Was ist loos? Der Hund is loose.”
– Clayton
As so oft with #Herzog, the story behind Stroszek is as engrossing as the resulting film. Documentary maker Errol Morris and Herzog were fascinated by Wisconsin's own Ed Gein and wondered if Gein had dug up his own mother, as was rumoured at the time. As they would, they decided to open the poor woman's grave. Morris never showed up, and neither did Herzog but only because his car broke down en route to Plainfield, Wisconsin. Trying to get the vehicle fixed, Herzog entered the workshop of a Clayton Szalpinski.
A character in his own right, and a non-actor to boot, Clayton ended up in Stroszek as Scheitz's nephew; a MacGuffin odder than a dancing chicken.
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Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977)
Sep
9
turkey
“We're in America now.”
– Bruno S.
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How much Wood would a Woodchuck chuck… – Beobachtungen zu einer neuen Sprache (Werner Herzog, 1976)
Apr
20
National Auctioneers Day
One of the younger auctioneers during his attempt. DP: Thomas Mauch.
#Herzog travels to New Holland, Pennsylvania to witness the 1976 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship. Cattle is weighed and paraded in front of the buyers, and the 53 contestants have a few minutes to auction the animals off to the highest bidder.
We see glimpses of the audience. New Holland is the land of the money-eschewing #Amish, descendants of German-speaking Swiss, whose dress, ways and speech found an ideal state in an increasingly convoluted world. While money rolls, the Amish hand out their home-baked pies free of charge to the Championship onlookers.
To German-as-Apfeltorte Herzog, the auction is bewildering, the “last #poetry possible, the poetry of #capitalism”. In keeping with Herzog's poetic, ecstatic truth, Bruno S. too travels to America and encounters the auctioneers in Stroszek (1977).
