Incident at Loch Ness

Who knew that Werner Herzog – the director of "Aguirre: the Wrath of God", "Fitzcarraldo", and other weighty dramas -- could do comedy? Herzog proves it here in Zak Penn's terrific send-up of "the making of the movie" documentary.

"Incident at Loch" purports to document a film Herzog sets out to make in Scotland about the Loch Ness monster. Overseeing the production is Penn, a successful screenwriter. Along for the ride are a famous cinematographer, an Academy award winning sound man, a Playboy model, and a radio controlled six-foot "Nessie."

Penn puts it all together in a clever, inventive way. The result is one of the most original – and funniest – movies of the year.

The film appears to be a documentary about John Bailey making a documentary, "Herzog in Wonderland", about director Werner Herzog, who is himself undertaking a documentary seeking the truth behind the Loch Ness Monster and the cultural facts that lead to such beliefs. We witness Herzog and his crew from the earliest stages of their supposed documentary. Problems begin creeping up almost immediately, growing in severity until everyone's documentaries are abandoned in a climactic horrific incident--the Incident at Loch Ness.

This is really a brilliant film. The appearance is just a conceit. What's really going on is a very clever nested mockumentary that is basically This is Spinal Tap (1984) meets The Blair Witch Project (1999) in attitude and tone, with the twist that our protagonists are not fictional characters, but real people playing spoofed version of themselves.

Similar to some other recent faux documentaries, Incident at Loch Ness plays with the difference between truth and falsehood, fact and fiction, cinematic illusions and reality, while explicitly claiming to explore the same, occasionally untruthfully, in a cinematic equivalent to Epimenides' famous paradox, where a Cretan is claiming that "All Cretans are liars". It's sly enough to even make a committed postmodernist's head spin, and unlike other attempts at similar material from other filmmakers, Incident at Loch Ness has insightful things to say on many different levels--the postmodern playfulness isn't just pretentious here.

In fact, this is the film, minus the humor perhaps, that The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast (1988) wanted to be. Unlike those films, here documentary really seems like documentary. First-time director Zak Penn (who is an experienced screenwriter) is smart and knowledgeable enough to know that documentaries (and even home movies) do not tend to look like they were filmed by someone having a seizure (both BWP and TLB), and they do not tend to feature monotone, extremely amateur comments from the faux interviewees which are then arbitrarily edited into frequently repeating snippets (TLB). Penn's intelligent approach results in Incident at Loch Ness feeling "real", which is exactly what it needs to do. The verisimilitude is only belied by the very funny, increasingly absurdest plot, when we're firmly in This is Spinal Tap territory.

Like This is Spinal Tap, Incident at Loch Ness is as funny as it is because it is so close to the truth. It only slightly exaggerates what really happens in the world of film and television--the ridiculous moves by producers in the hope of creating a more profitable product, the personality clashes and often "political" and subversive machinations in behind-the-scenes relationships, the toying with "the real" in reality shows and documentaries--giving the satire a lot more weight. For Herzog fans, there is a hilarious spoof overview of his past work near the beginning of the film, and fans will also simply delight in Herzog being able to poke fun at himself so easily and naturalistically.

But in trumping BWP and TLB, Incident at Loch Ness is a very realistic horror film as well, with horror coming not only in the climax when some characters end up dead, but all throughout the film with various minor disasters/problems, all threatening to send the feigned Herzog documentary to hell in a hand basket.

Incident at Loch Ness wouldn't have worked without excellent performances, making it even more notable in that the majority of the cast are not most well known, or even very experienced in some cases, as actors. The DVD is worth checking out, as Penn and Herzog do the main commentary in character. There are ample deleted scenes and lots of Easter eggs, as well, including hidden "serious" commentary.

Like a big budget Blair Witch Project this is a clever and amusing con job that shows the manipulative power of the documentary but as the film becomes more and more preposterous and the con becomes more obvious the joke goes a bit flat.

Lately the documentary genre has been messed with royally with blending opinion and personal agenda with fact mainly for entertainment value ala Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, but this one side steps in yet another direction and seems to me to be satirizing the whole mocumentary process which would make it a joke within a joke and a true original. It's not entirely clear if this is the intent of the film, which only adds to the enigma. I like to think it is.

It is refreshing to see a legend like Herzog willing to poke fun at his own obsessive reputation and it's his charismatic presence that carries the film.

I don't know when the mocumentary first showed up in film but one of the first I recall that's well worth checking out if you like this sort of thing is Woody Allen's great from 1983: Zelig.

This has many things I seek: A faux documentary after the manner of "Lost Silver." Werner Herzog, who is sort of a touchstone for those interested in merged stylization and the documentary-like magic of discovered behavior.

It is a film about a film about a film about a film. It is an examination of truth and fiction merged. Sounds perfect, right?

Some elements are deft. Herzog really is great. I already saw him in a similar real-fiction role in a Harmony Korrine project (similar in spirit to this one). So he really wasn't a surprise. But one gets the impression that he really can live in merged real and fictional worlds. I suppose all great artists can do that.

But the whole thing falls flat, largely I think because the writer went the whole distance with himself. He is the writer/director and he plays that as well. But he doesn't have the oscillating realities that Herzog projects and that is required here. Let's call it the Woody Allen effect: a great idea that the writer had that the same person ruins in the form of an actor.

I have maintained for long that actors cannot understand movies. The interests of filmmakers and actors conflict. But it is also true that asking a filmmaker like Penn to be an actor is just as hard. And just as disappointing.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

My wife watched this for 45 min before asking me if this was a fake documentary as I did not let on when I put it on for us.

I really enjoyed this movie.Herzog is both a huge ham and absolutely sincere at the same time, what a joy to listen to him talk.Penn as the "producer" is great as he trys to improve the movie with a bit of sex and silly props,he manages slim quite nicely and it is obvious he enjoyed playing the roll.

This show is basically a movie within a movie, a Documentary about Herzogs making his latest documentary on the Loc Ness monster(and the fact that it is a myth). It is cleverly done and even manages to make one jump a couple of times.

Tongue in cheek and gently amusing, certainly worth watching.