Review of Heart of Glass (1976) by Marcus W — 10 Jul 2009

This is Herzog in schizophrenic mode. On the one hand, when he's letting the camera linger in documentary mode, the film is great. But in trying to work in a plot the film becomes hopelessly muddled with fortune tellers, glassmaking and men standing on rocks.

Admittedly it's very brave to make a film with every single actor hypnotised, but this doesn't help the film, it just gives it a dull dream-like-ness. As usual, his use of lighting and scene selection is flawless, it's just a shame he couldn't stay in documentary mode.