I feel like that headline is borderline ridiculous, yet, it is completely accurate. If you don’t know the name Werner Herzog then you are doing yourself an awful disservice, as he is one of the most interesting film directors around, possibly of all time. His older films like Aguirre, The Wrath of God, Stroszek and Fitzcarraldo (among others) are all considered classics, but the work that has really helped propel him even further has been his documentaries. He’s been making documentaries for most of his career now, but he really gained some traction with Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World and Cave of Forgotten Dreams over the last few years.
His documentaries have their own sort of style to them, their own ebb and flow, and are always punctuated by his gravely narration that is accentuated by the use of music that makes you feel quite uneasy. His latest, well, it has that same uneasy feeling to it.
Herzog’s latest documentary comes from a rather strange place, and Herzog himself doesn’t appear in this one, but it’s haunting all of the same. “From One Second to the Next” is sponsored by all of the major telecoms in the United States, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, and for some reason they sprung for Werner Herzog to handle the whole affair. It was probably a pretty smart move as this is essentially a 30-minute long PSA about the dangers of texting and driving, but it has all of Werner Herzog’s flair and despair worked into it.
So I guess it is come for Werner Herzog’s signature style, angles and view of the world and also get it drilled into your head that you could probably kill somebody if you are messing around with your phone while you are driving. Sounds fair to me.
