Fata Morgana

Brilliant images and some great music, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts - it's boring and it drags for most of the run time. There are a few nice moments of Herzogian weirdness in here, though, so it's not a total waste.

Great photography and music (Cohen is incredible), although it lacks alot of what makes Herzog films so special.

There are some great images here, but they're few and far between. Most of it feels like leftover footage from better Herzog movies. The first part is the worst: all the Mayan creation myth bullshit read in Lotte Eisner's very grating voice and the endless pans of the same landscapes over and over again gets really fucking tedious. Parts 2 & 3 are a big improvement with more evocative narration, but still in need of a stricter hand at the editing machine.

Yes it's slow and captivating but it's like that to match the way of life seen through Herzog's lens. I could have done with less of the creation myth and more of Leonard Cohen.

You'll soon start seeing mirages of the end credits.

The landscape is not an allegory. There is nothing beyond its beauty.

Truly unique film. Maybe I saw it at the right age or something (I was 16 and just starting to get interested in cinema) but I'm still haunted by this. I will never forget some of the images.

Half poetic creation myth, half Leonard Cohen's songs inspiring haunting, beautiful images. Herzog provides all sorts of symbols, from dead animals to random people, from landscapes to images of German people talking nonsense shit and a musician couple, to convey a powerful narrative about nature, its inhabitants and our way to see things through the lens of cinema, poetry and music.

A Bit boring, but still weird and cool

One big "fuck you" to direct cinema. And to mankind.

Even the opening few minutes of airplane after airplane landing is mesmerising. This is a story of creation as told in/through the Sahara Desert. It's Biblical, filled with unforgettable imagery (a man with an iguana ; a child with a fox) accompanied by the tunes of Leonard Cohen and a captivating musical interlude of muted drums and piano. The narration by Lotte Eisner is perfect as are the long tracking shots from Herzog's car. A landmark documentary (of sorts).

Interesting to look at, but not great until it comes to the brothel band sequence.

Werner Herzog's stated goal with this was to film mirages and, well, he somehow succeeded. A hypnotic and contemplative travelogue that creates a deeply unsettling tension within its endless expanse of sand. The beautiful use of Leonard Cohen is particularly fascinating, as Herzog doesn't strike as the kind of filmmaker who concerns himself with popular music all that often.

it is only what the description says

15 points for 5 minutes of beautiful images in this otherwise dull pile of shit.

F.M was a landmark film for Herzog. It established many of the traits and themes that would come to define his work: his fascination with rugged landscapes and strange animals; his affinity for oddballs with unique talents living in extreme conditions; his use of defamiliarisation as an immersive tool, and his concern for mankind's destruction of the environment. There are some arresting images, but it's frequently aimless and plodding, and his trademark narration is sorely missed.

Fata Morgana is undeniably dull and while it does have beautiful scenery and music, it takes more than that to keep the audience captivated. It's a film worth seeing to make your own mind up, but in particular, Fata Morgana is one of the lesser in Herzog's otherwise excellent catalog.

Contains some remarkable imagery.

At its best like listening to a Leonard Cohen record on a train, at its worst like listening to some religious nut on a bus.

That third act concert though.

70.500

A spectacle of images and music, but it's not quite enough to sustain feature length. I disliked the narration, and it seemed a little bit ambiguous and pointless. But damn is there some great footage.

Filme #800 do ano: Fata Morgana estreava há 50 anos no Festival de New York. Aff, a segunda obra-prima do dia. O deserto não dá para ficar melhor do que Popol Vuh e Leonard Cohen. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

Beautiful shots and great music. Was Herzog correct in not guiding the viewer so little?

Gorgeous hagiagraphy of a time that doesn't exist. Herzog the humanist.

Herzog filmed a home movie of his trip abroad, but figured he needed to get everyone to see it, which meant it needed some sort of plot, so he got someone to read the Mayan creation myth and got the rights to a couple of Leonard Cohen songs, threw a little Herzog-typical absurdism at the very end and called it a day. It's actually quite nice to relax to, but it's biggest negative is it inspired people like Terence Malick to think that disjointed pretty imagery is all it takes to make a movie.

Though not as good as it's sister project "Lessons of Darkness" it features some amazing imagery, fun music and the last 20 minutes features peak Herzogian weirdness. But, a lot of the philosophical babble was lost on me.

Not something that's good to watch when you're utterly exhausted, but hypnotic nonetheless. The soundtrack is incredible, from Leonard Cohen to... whatever that concert was.

What is Herzog trying to say here? I really have no idea. I was left with a real sense of "what's the point?" But I did appreciate the beautiful scenery, as well as some of the utter weirdness. It's a flavor of weirdness I've seen only in Herzog movies. The boy with the fox, the guy talking about lizards, the goofy guy with the sea turtle, and of course the most peculiar musical duo I've ever witnessed. These things are purely Herzog, and they alone made watching this movie worthwhile.

I liked the opening repeated clips of airplanes landing, and the music was pleasant throughout. Apart from that, I can only say "k."

Herzog aims to film mirages and the Saharan landscapes that uphold them. There's some poignant vérité footage of rural desolation, refracting desert horizons and decay, but his attempt to edit this into an ambiguous cinematic experience falls a bit flat.

Part 1 is a bit dull but it gets better about halfway through. Would have been better if Herzog had narrated it himself.

I'm generally a big fan of Herzog, but this one wasn't for me--the only Herzog I've seen to date that I didn't like. It's beautiful at times, but in the end it kind of had me wondering what the point was. It reminded me a bit of Sans Soleil, but I loved that. I don't mind subtitles at all, but I suspect they might hurt a film like this somewhat, where it's especially important to experience the words with the images and the sounds simultaneously, and always reading might take you out of it.

Herzog turns a documentary about a trip to Cameroon into an exploration and deconstruction of the creation myth. Almost a science fiction movie about life on Earth, it drags a bit and tends towards the pathetic at one or two points, but then the final part (which is almost Meaning of Life-ishly satirical) ties it together very nicely. Herzog's starting to find his feet here.

Very weird film shot around the same time as EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL. Lots of wonderful and mysterious moments. If you can make it past the opening scene with continuous footage of planes landing then you'll be okay, athough admit that I I haven't been able to watch this in its entirety in one sitting.