Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: FIREBALL - VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS [AFI Fest 2020 - Virtual]

Werner Herzog always has an interesting way of looking at things where it is never one thing but perhaps another. After his stunt on "The Mandalorian", perhaps his stint into alien worlds provided a slightly different perspective. While "Fireball: Visitors From Other Worlds" in many ways is straightforward, its unconventional narrator gives the ideas its push. Apple backed this film which is equal parts at times indulgence versus metaphysical voyage with an idea of how existential it really could be. Herzog examines the idea of organisms and the intermingling of history and art. It is not done in an obtuse way but rather in a roundabout way of examining the human spirit. Herzog sees people in a different way. It is hard to say if he is operating at times as we only see him jump in once (yet his voice narrates the entire process and was written by him so the voice is inherently of that bent). The perspective goes away from norms. His camera lingers on the subjects not asking for quotes most of the time but taking in their faces. That says so much more than any of the talking heads that interact with Clive Oppenheimer (who co-directed). Oppenheimer is himself a documentary filmmaker and volcanologist who worked with Herzog on the different "Volcanos" (so they obviously get along). Oppenheimer has less presence than perhaps some of his interview subjects whom Herzog perhaps stays on a bit too long. It is not about what they are saying per se though the details are there. It is about how they are acting when it is being said. There are textures of obsessive compulsive elements in many of the subjects or just a jitteriness like a professor in India who sits in the belly of a crater. Some just can't stop moving either out of nature of excitement. One of the more interesting is a Jesuit Brother that works for The Vatican and is also a planetary scientist. His discussion of the paradox of science and God is not contradictory per se and yet explains the right balance. Herzog seems to see these elements and adds to the slight undercurrent of beautiful madness. The ending sequence takes this to a visual extreme but examines and reamplifies the nature of the meteors and the history they both create and tell.B+

By Tim Wassberg