4. Incident At Loch Ness (Zak Penn, 2004)
"Cinema is lies" - Werner Herzog Inicident At Loch Ness is an absolutely brilliant blend: part pseudo-documentary, part ethnographic film and part found footage film all wrapped up in a mockumentary, and starring the always-fascinating Werner Herzog. When approached esoterically, the whole thing is revealed to be an intellectual deconstruction of both the documentary and mockumentary genres- with a particular applicability to Herzog's own films. It's packed with all sorts of lies, about all sorts of things...which makes for a whole lot of fun. To start, the film's structure is composed of three fake films within a film. To make matters more confusing (while giving the whole thing an air of credence), pretty much everyone in the film is a real person playing themselves, albeit in a different-than-usual role. From our standpoint, we are observing a documentary that is being shot by Jon Bailey- a film about Werner Herzog called "Herzog In Wonderland". The way the film is shot, leads us believe that this is, in fact, a real documentary. One portion of it's pseudo-documentary element. Bailey is following around Herzog as he develops a film about the Loch Ness Monster (with a focus on psychology as an explanation for the phenomenon). This is the second-tier of pseudoness- as Herzog's ethnographic film in the film is also fake. Herzog's Loch Ness project is being produced by Zak Penn (the director of the real film). Penn is using Herzog's production as a front, misleading the crew about the nature of what's actually going on (and anyone who knows Herzog, knows he is a controlling and demanding guy). It turns out that he is essentially using them as a props in his own film, without their knowledge. One could argue that Penn's film within the film is so absurd, that it would qualify as a mockumentary. Though it could also be called a pseudo-doc. From the outside, the whole thing has everyone in their acted-roles reversed- with Penn directing, Herzog producing and Jon Bailey on cinematography. Once you've had a chance to reflect upon the fraudulent nature of everything contained in the film, you realize the whole thing is actually a cleverly constructed mockumentary that pokes fun at the documentary and mockumentary genres, while simultaneously deconstructing them. A few examples of obvious lies from the film include Herzog stating that he "does not take excessive risks" (dragging a boat over a mountain, climbing an exploding volcano etc.); Penn stating that he became a producer because he "doesn't like being pushed around" (he's working with Werner Herzog...); and Penn stating that he was in no way responsible for any sort of "effects" being used in the water (despite the fact that we already saw the blueprints)...to name but a few... (have fun watching and looking for more yourself!) As we watch Herzog deconstruct his own documentaries, the film (and fake films within the film) become illuminated with an aura of authority. This is particularly evident when 'Herzogian Deception Tactics' are discussed (ie finding experts that are obsessive yet believable, preferably with a sweet beard and/or messy hair). These so-called 'experts' tend to straddle the boundary between credible and loony, making them more exciting to believe. For the sake of this film we, appropriately, have a crypto-zoologist. In the end, the whole film ends up like a sort of mockumentary-horror. But once you take a critical look at it, it becomes a satisfyingly deceptive and entertainingly complex film that lies about certain aspects of film-making to expose the truths behind them (if that makes any sense).