There was this group of girls in the theater that laughed (like they 'understand' Herzog's sense of humor and no one else does) loudly at a few things that weren't very funny. It sucks that Herzog is now 'that crazy guy' the everyone takes pride in themselves for knowing about.
I saw this, in the UK, in an audience largely of older people (the cinema has a pensioner deal on the evening I saw it), and they were howling with laughter all the way through, as if the people being interviewed were selected for their comedy value. It was quite irritating. I would hate to have seen Fata Morgana witht them. I mean, Bad Lieutenant and My Son, My Son.... are obviously played for some laughs, but Herzog's German films, though wry, are largely short on belly laughs. It does seem that Herzog's revival has coincided with him becoming some kind of eccentric figure of fun.
I 'got into' Herzog after reading about Fitzcarraldo in about 1995, and the general attitude then was that his career had collapsed following that and now he was reduced to making TV documentaries. Although I don't think they are his best work, I think it's been amazing that his career has revived to the point that I have been able to see three new feature films theatrically in a 12 month period.
I didn't see it 3D, and can't see how it would have benefitted that much. I only really felt that the film became 'immersed' in the paintings in the final reels anyhow, most of it is produced in a similar way to his 90/00's TV docs like Wings Of Hope or The White Diamond.
Actually, the White Diamond would be great in 3D...
