And now, to conclude, a documentary that is a fully realized work of art: Grizzly Man, by Werner Herzog.
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The Dread of Failure
Stuart Klawans: Reviews: Arnaud Desplechin's enchanted A Christmas Tale and Charlie Kaufman's brilliant Synedoche, New York.
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Panoramas
Stuart Klawans: 24 City and Ashes of Time Redux, two stars of the New York Film Festival; plus Happy-Go-Lucky and Ballast reviewed.
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Burned Out
Stuart Klawans: The Coen brothers' dark comedy and Godfrey Cheshire's story of plantation life.
He was an actor, too. For the most part, he appears in his videotapes as a lean and bubbly fellow with a blond Prince Valiant haircut and a Mr. Rogers manner of speech. He gives cute names to animals and tells them "I love you." But as Herzog pieces together Treadwell's biography, mostly through newly shot interviews, a more driven side of the man emerges. We learn of a history of professional failure, drinking, drug abuse, mythomania and (so far as I can see) deeply conflicted sexuality. By discovering a passion for grizzly bears, Treadwell saved his life--he said so himself. Ultimately, though, he also gave up his life, and Huguenard's, to a fantasy of nature's benevolence.
In Treadwell's tapes, we see an attempt to make a film about wilderness and wildlife. In Herzog's hands, that same footage becomes a dark, complex film about human nature--or, at least, about the nature of two particular humans.
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