Stroszek Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Stroszek Blu-ray Movie Review

The American Nightmare.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 20, 2014

Note: This title is currently available as part of Herzog: The Collection.

Has there ever been a more fascinating figure in film than Werner Herzog? This much debated individual, one who elicits both hyperbolic accolades and equally exaggerated derision, has been a seeming force of nature in film for decades, helping to define the New German Cinema (a somewhat later analog to the French New Wave). Herzog’s filmography is rather breathtakingly diverse, traversing both traditional fiction, quasi-biographies, and a large number of documentaries. Through it all, Herzog himself has become the subject of considerable controversy, at times seeming to be as obsessively motivated as some of his film subjects. The auteur’s off kilter blend of nihilism and often black humor has given him and his films a decidedly unique place in contemporary media, to the point that a supposed note Herzog jotted off to his cleaning lady became an internet sensation (it’s actually a brilliantly written parody by Dale Shaw). Shout! Factory, a label which repeatedly stubbed its corporate toe on its last big deluxe boxed set built around the talents of one person (Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection, the only time in my reviewing career I have had to start over from scratch due to a complete recall and reissue) may seem to be throwing caution to the wind by upping the ante with this release. Here there are no fewer than 16 films by Herzog, housed in a handsome hardback booklike case that also features a wealth of text and information about each of the films. Fifteen of the films are new to Blu-ray (Shout's horror imprint Scream Factory released Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre as a standalone a few months ago), and the offerings here cover both iconic films in Herzog's oeuvre as well as some oddities. The extremely handsome packaging offers a 7.5" x 7.5" x 1.5" hardback book exterior casing which houses heavy cardstock pocket holders that contain the discs. Also included are The Werner Herzog Condition by Stephen J. Smith, an appreciation of the director's work with essays about each of the films. The films get even more text in write-ups by Chris Wahl and Brad Prager. Each of the pocket holder pages details the film (or in some cases, films) on each disc, with audio options and special features listed.

Hey, Werner Herzog, your native German nihilism may be just fine when you’re tooling around Bavaria or South America spreading doom and gloom, but when you start attacking The American Dream, in Wisconsin no less, you’d better be prepared for some blowback! The preceding is said in jest, of course, but Stroszek, one of Herzog’s most anarchic films in what is after all a largely anarchic career, does at least claw menacingly at the American mythos, suggesting none too subtly that not everyone who matriculates to the United States in order to make a better life for themselves is going to be able to actually realize their ambitions. Herzog has made no secret of the fact that Stroszek kind of happened by accident, or at least by the confluence of some extraordinary in not always felicitous events. The director, certainly one of the most intellectually curious men of his generation, had become interested in the story of Ed Gein, the mass murderer whose rampage became one of the inspirations for Psycho. Gein hailed from a little town in Wisconsin called Plainfield, and Herzog had initially gone there to reportedly hobnob with documentarian Errol Morris , who was also interested in the Gein story (Morris receives a thanks in the credits). Morris never showed, Herzog’s car broke down, and the rest as they say is history. Herzog’s immersion in cheesehead society (I can say that because my wife is from Wisconsin) gave him some bizarre sort of inspiration, and Herzog claims he dashed off the screenplay for Stroszek in just a matter of days. (For another completely different account from Herzog on the genesis of the film, see the Supplements section below.) Fans of the director have sometimes therefore dismissed Stroszek as too chaotic for its own good, but the lunatic improvisatory quality of the film is (in my estimation at least) one of its chief allures. Yes, this is strange—even for Herzog (which is saying quite a lot). But there’s a bizarre affability to this film that ends up being quite ingratiating, despite its narrative hiccups and odd performance style.

This is the “other” Herzog film starring Bruno S., the wide eyed naïf who helped to make The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser such an unforgettable viewing experience. Herzog actually based the character Bruno plays in this film, a former inmate and street musician appropriately named Bruno, on Bruno himself. (Bruno’s institutionalization was evidently in an asylum, not a prison, as depicted in the film.) Within moments of being released from stir, Bruno meets up with an abused prostitute named Eva (Eva Mattes), offering her refuge in his flat, where a caretaker named Mr. Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz, also memorable from The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) has been looking after things. This “odd triple” uses Eva’s income from her “working girl” activities to fund a trip to Wisconsin (yes, Wisconsin) to hopefully build new lives for themselves.

Once in America, the three attempt to blend in, though the oddball characters they meet (many played by nonprofessionals Herzog culled from his Wisconsin location) make this ironically rather difficult (considering how odd the focal trio is). They get a huge mobile home, and arrange for the little comforts of home like a television, but they haven’t actually thought through how they’re going to continue to pay for it. Parts of Stroszek play like a completely peculiar mash up of German Expressionism with a kind of dry Coen Brothers ethos that presages some of the “simple” folk found in Fargo.

Is Stroszek a not so thinly veiled assault on American values? I hardly think so. The film is more certainly about the recurrent Herzog theme of characters never quite in control of the circumstances of their lives. The fact that Herzog himself only seems barely in control of this film at times only adds to the carnival like atmosphere that makes this odd, but oddly endearing, film so remarkable.

Stroszek Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Stroszek features an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. This is generally a nice looking high definition presentation, though there are minor issues like some chroma anomalies in the opening credits. Those optically printed credits also materially increase the natural fine grain field, as should be expected. Grain does look organic here, but tends to increase slightly on heavily saturated hues. As has been the case in some other films in this set, good contrast can't completely eliminate crush, especially in the darker interior scenes. Many of the brightly lit outdoor scenes in the film (and Stroszek is full of them) look really good. While the palette tends to exploit lots of grays in the Germany sequences, there are sudden pops of very vividly saturated colors, like the red sports car that belongs to Eva's pimp. Flesh tones can be slightly ruddy to pink looking at times. Clarity is very good, especially in the many outdoor Wisconsin locales, where depth of field is also excellent. Fine detail is above average, giving things like the light pill on Stroszek's sweater good definition.

Stroszek Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Stroszek lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track in German is beset by high hiss levels, something that recurs intermittently throughout other offerings in the new Herzog boxed set. That said, the high end here is not as strident sounding as in other similar sounding mixes, and the source cues (which vary from Chet Atkins to a Muzak version of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix") sound full bodied. The on screen piano that Stroszek plays is pretty tinny sounding and also badly out of tune (for those who care about such things). Dialogue is cleanly presented and is always easy to hear.

Stroszek Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• English Commentary with Werner Herzog. Herzog is once again joined by Norman Hill, and discusses how the film came to be, an account which differs materially from others he's offered (including the one mentioned above in the main body of the review). This time he talks about almost having cast Bruno S. in Woyzeck, then realizing Kinski would be better in the role. He relays he had to come up with something quickly since Bruno had already arranged for vacation time, and Stroszek was the hurried result.


• Trailer (1080p; 3:26)

Stroszek Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even some diehard Herzog fans dismiss Stroszek as a too rushed and inchoate knock off, but I'd argue the film has a perfectly distilled Herzogian sensibility, perhaps due to the very fact that it was created in such a manic state. Bruno S. and Eva Mattes are incredible in the film, and its odd, off kilter sense of humor is completely unique. It's no mere coincidence that the film's kind of apocalyptic ending features a truck driving in a circle which obviously apes a similar conceit in Even Dwarfs Started Small. Add to that the bizarre dancing chickens and Bruno S. himself going round and round on a ski lift, and you have a beautifully succinct summation of Herzog's trenchant viewpoint on the inanities and perhaps futilities of life. Technical merits here are very good, and Stroszek comes Highly recommended.