The Wrath and Reveries of Werner Herzog

Overview

What would cinema be without a talent like Werner Herzog lurking in the dark? Yes, we're paraphrasing the great German filmmaker, and yes, you should be reading that in his inimitable voice. Expect to have his distinctive tones echoing through your head rather frequently between June 2 and August 19, with the Gallery of Modern Art throwing open their Australian Cinematheque to a survey of his work.

No one makes movies like Herzog. No one makes us gaze into the abyss or think about crocodiles in quite the same way. No one voices documentarians in Penguins of Madagascar, plays a villain opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher or sells a perfectly creepy house in Parks and Recreation like him either. GOMA's The Wrath and Reveries of Werner Herzog program doesn't include those on-screen appearances, but that's perfectly acceptable. With 35 films that he either directed, wrote or played a significant part in on the lineup, there'll be plenty of Werner to go around.

Kicking off with his 2016 documentary Lo and Behold, Reveries of of the Connected World — aka his thoughts on the internet, which are as eclectic as you'd expect — is an ideal start, with the rest of the selection featuring everything from rebelling dwarves (Even Dwarfs Started Small), Spanish soldiers (Aguirre, the Wrath of God) and bear enthusiasts (Grizzly Man) to volcanoes (Into the Inferno), deserts (Fata Morgana) and bloodsuckers (Nosferatu the Vampyre). From his earliest efforts to his Hollywood fare, and including his sweeping docos as well as his intimate character pieces, this jam-packed cinephile dream of a bill has it all.