Directed by Werner Herzog • 2009 • United States
Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer
Two of contemporary cinema’s most electrifying eccentrics, Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage, join forces for a thoroughly unhinged pulp fever dream. Not—despite the title—a remake of or sequel to the similarly named Abel Ferrara film, Herzog’s BAD LIEUTENANT unfolds in a neon-splashed, neonoir vision of post-Katrina New Orleans where amoral, drug-addled detective Terence McDonagh (Cage at his most gloriously unrestrained) finds himself teetering on the brink of insanity as he investigates the killing of five immigrants—a mystery that ultimately takes a backseat to Herzog’s wild, hallucinatory flourishes, including an extended, unforgettable “iguana cam” interlude.
Up Next in Directed by Werner Herzog
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My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
Directed by Werner Herzog • 2009 • United States
Starring Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, Chloë SevignyWhat strange series of events led a man to murder his mother with an ancient sword? Produced by David Lynch, Werner Herzog’s typically idiosyncratic take on a true crime unfolds as a fascinatin...
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Echoes from a Somber Empire
Directed by Werner Herzog • 1990 • Germany, France
One of director Werner Herzog’s most unsettling explorations of the madness that can seize men’s hearts, this haunting documentary recounts the reign of Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who ruled for eleven years as the self-declared emperor of the Central A...
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Lessons of Darkness
Directed by Werner Herzog • 1992 • Germany
“The collapse of the stellar universe will occur–like creation–in grandiose splendor,” announces the quote (attributed to Blaise Pascal, but actually invented by the director) that begins Werner Herzog’s terrifyingly beautiful rumination on the ravaged ...
