Review: Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
He’s made a number of movies that are justly celebrated for either their brilliance, originality, adventurousness or a little of all, but Werner Herzog is probably most loved because he has the personality and spontaneity to do things like pop up in Zak Penn’s comic mockumentary (comockumentary?) Incident at Loch Ness. How many great so and sos would do that? (The legend letting their hair down in something unexpected award still goes to Kurt Vonnegut’s cameo in Back to School though.) Of all the great filmmakers, Herzog may be one of two (David Lynch being the other) who’s least concerned with how they’re received by the critics, and that’s always welcome in this art form.
Zak Penn is primarily known as a screenwriter, particularly in the action or superhero arena (X2, Behind Enemy Lines, the forthcoming The Incredible Hulk), but his sensibilty here as co-writer (with Herzog) and director is dry, dry, dry and I say more power to him. The first half of Loch Ness, which concerns Penn and Herzog’s efforts to film a documentary about the elusive creature, could be mistaken as a making of supplement to a real movie. Penn and Herzog don’t tip their hats like Christopher Guest, they sell you on the mundane reality of the situation, and score sly points on the ego of filmmaking.
“Score sly points on the ego of filmmaking”, yeah, its been done, but the performances (mostly people playing themselves) are dead on, and the novelty of seeing a great like Herzog trump his image for an entire film goes a long way. Loch Ness does lose its footing about half way through, turning into an uneven comic riff on The Jaws Witch Project, but all Herzog nuts should see it. Which means all film nuts should see it.
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