For a film that begins with a fairly soporific, lightly reality-bending prologue, where Werner Herzog observes a mass of cars gliding backwards down an American highway as he sits listlessly in a traffic jam, it’s surprising that Radical Dreamer really puts the pedal to the metal after that. Writer-director Thomas von Steinaecker unleashes a veritable flurry of activity with a hectic, slideshow-esque montage of unattributed clips from Herzog’s cinema, spooling through images at the mountainous top of the world, the briny, sea-deep bottom and everything in-between (including taking in a chain-smoking chimpanzee). Interspersed within this quick-cutting footage are straight-to-camera interventions from an impressive coterie of household names — Christian Bale! Nicole Kidman! Robert Pattinson! — who recall fond memories of engaging with the German master’s era-redefining work, both as spectators at home and actors on his sets.
This frontloading of recognisable faces reads as a transparent attempt to hook in the viewer, especially considering that they all but disappear from view as Radical Dreamer settles into a gentler, more sustainable rhythm. As has become customary with portrait-of-the-artist documentaries of this nature, the film outstretches its arms as wide as it can and tries to embrace the entirety of The Werner Herzog Story, starting with his upbringing, segueing into his career and, finally, reflecting on his legacy.
It’s an untenable amount to cram into such a slim runtime, meaning a necessary skimming over the surface. The most engaging section is undoubtedly the discussion of the arduous mounting of his disaster-plagued epics Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, with their trying shoots, striking cast members and ratings-board drama. You’re left wishing that the film served just this slice of his life, instead of having you choke down the whole thing. In the end, Radical Dreamer is an occasionally insightful, mostly entertaining treatise on Werner Herzog, whose formulaic approach straitjackets a boundary-breaking artist. You only wish there was more of the innovation it praises in its subject.