"A small village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obsessed with the lost secret." - YouTube Movies
After watching Tarkovsky's Nostalgia on New Year's Eve, I thought a Herzog film would be a good way to open the year. I was disappointed; this turned out to be a lot less engaging than the other Herzog films I've seen. I discovered after watching it that apparently the actors were performing while hypnotised (except for the actor playing Hias, the visionary) which I can only say was an experiment that did not pay off at all. There are some mesmerising scenic shots and a curious final section shot on the Skellig Islands that made me wonder whether a location spotter for The Last Jedi had seen this film, but other than that it's scene after scene of confusion, stilted dialogue and bizarre behaviour (or acting?) that was a struggle to get through.
Perhaps, as Roger Ebert says in his review (this is one of his Great Movies), it improves on repeated viewings but personally I don't think it's worth the effort to find out.
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