LAFF Report: The Wild Blue Yonder Review

Posted by Peter Martin at 7:53pm.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews , Documentary, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy.

Even Werner Herzog’s misfires are fascinating. His interests are far-ranging, and his passionate explorations often result in illuminating insights into human nature, which makes it easy to overlook his tendency toward self-indulgence in his choice and treatment of subjects. The easiest example to cite is last year’s striking Grizzly Man.

Last year also saw the release of his self-described “science fiction fantasy” The Wild Blue Yonder, which is fascinating simply because I have no idea what Herzog was attempting to accomplish.

NASA footage of astronauts in a space shuttle and divers in an ocean are stiched together by awkward scenes featuring Brad Dourif playing an alien from a distant galaxy, explicating his race’s failures on Earth and bemoaning the lost possibilities for the astronauts because of a lack of communication between aliens and humans. Also featured are mathematicians explaining their theories about space and time—about which I plead complete ignorance because the formulas went speeding over my head

Frankly, Brad Dourif has resembled an alien for years (no offense intended to Mr. Dourif, just that he has a wonderfully off-beat “look"), so that part of the film is completely believable and is good-humored in its goofiness. “We thought the thing to do was get people to shop!” he says as he gestures to a grand Roman-columned building at the dusty, empty crossroads of a modern ghost town. “Look how that turned out!”

The mathematicians (three of whom were in the audience) are somehow related to Dourif’s aliens, but I couldn’t follow the connection.

The scenes of astronauts in space and divers in the sea are eye-catching in small doses but Herzog’s decision to have Dourif narrate the footage as though the astronauts are reacting to imaginary forces beyond camera range is just plain silly, and becomes irritating when extended to such length, like a small child telling the same joke endlessly.

Indeed, though the running time is just 72 minutes, The Wild Blue Yonder feels much longer.

Festival atmosphere: The gorgeous Majestic Crest Theatre was thoroughly packed, the excitement level was high, the three scientists from the film who were present received polite ovations—and then the film began. You could almost feel the interest level peak early and begin to fall. It was like listening to the air go out of a balloon. There were only a few walk-outs, as though everyone were hoping that somehow, someway, the film would end up redeeming the price of a ticket.

Todd wrote about the film in advance of its premiere at Venice last year, which you can read here. Adam Lopez saw it at Fantastic Fest in October 2005, and included comments in his festival summary (scroll down).

You can see more at the official web site. Be sure to read the synopsis, which provides a far more lucid explanation of the proceedings than I could decipher from watching the film itself.

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Reader Comments

Rhythm-X 06/28/2006 @ 10:23am

Herzog is the man. I won’t even run down the laundry list of the reasons he’s in the upper ranks of true badasses, there’s more than enough listed in his IMDB profile. Just two quotes.

“Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film.”

“It was not a significant bullet. I am not afraid.”

If I had to pick one living filmmaker to have a beer with, it would be Herzog. If I could pick two, I’d have beer with Werner Herzog twice. And I don’t even drink.
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