By now, everybody should have come to see the light that Werner Herzog is pretty much the coolest person alive. In this 20-minute short film, a bearded Herzog ends up eating a shoe after having lost a bet to a colleague. The whole thing is a promo-gag to help another filmmaker and friend of Herzog find a distributor for his film. He cooked the shoe for five hours, added some Kentucky Fried Chicken to it and finally has to eat it now. As we see the action at the event, the film keeps cutting to several different sequences, like Chaplin eating a shoe as well in one of his movies, or scenes from "Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen" and a lot more.
Herzog tells anecdotes about his work, like a cactus tale about the aforementioned film, how the profession of a cook would have been the only real alternative for him had he not become a director (scary thought, I know!), how he picked exactly those shoes that he wore during the bet as he could have taken more easily digestible ones, but doesn't like cowards or how he's glad that he does not have to do such events for his own movies as he's lucky enough to get distributors. It's not a must-watch by any means, but an insightful little fun movies and there's not many ways you could spend a better 20 minutes because as Herzog says that "once in a while we should be foolish enough to do things like that". Shame that he still has not won an Oscar. Funnily enough, the film-maker who is supported by Herzog here already won one by now. Anyway, it's a good watch and I recommend it. Herzog is always a joy to watch and listen to.
Herzog tells anecdotes about his work, like a cactus tale about the aforementioned film, how the profession of a cook would have been the only real alternative for him had he not become a director (scary thought, I know!), how he picked exactly those shoes that he wore during the bet as he could have taken more easily digestible ones, but doesn't like cowards or how he's glad that he does not have to do such events for his own movies as he's lucky enough to get distributors. It's not a must-watch by any means, but an insightful little fun movies and there's not many ways you could spend a better 20 minutes because as Herzog says that "once in a while we should be foolish enough to do things like that". Shame that he still has not won an Oscar. Funnily enough, the film-maker who is supported by Herzog here already won one by now. Anyway, it's a good watch and I recommend it. Herzog is always a joy to watch and listen to.