Visiting Uwe (2008 Video) User Reviews

Boll on Boll: Statements of a modern Don Quijote

[Chapinchilango · 7/10 · 4 November 2008]

You don't need to know the movies by Uwe Boll to enjoy "Visiting Uwe". More than being about his movies, this documentary presents Uwe Boll as a person, as a unique character with clear ideas about movie-making, Hollywood, independent cinema, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Bay or Lars von Trier. Boll has seen it all and he will tell you what he thinks. Neither is Boll overly modest or humble, nor interested in political correctness. Boll uses his eloquence to make statements. Perhaps you won't agree with him but you must admire his frankness.

Fabian Hübner (writer, director and editor of "Visiting Uwe") deserves the credit for asking the right questions and for letting Boll speak. During the interview something interesting happens: The more Boll talks about the system in Hollywood and the difficulties of producing movies independently, the more you feel a certain kind of bitterness behind the curtain of Boll's confidence. You understand that Boll does not like being labeled as "the god of trash", he does not see himself as a modern Ed Wood, rather he likes to think about himself as a versatile and multi-talented director who gets his movies made against all odds, and who could easily compete with Hollywood's elite if he just had the same (financial) resources. Success is always relative.

As a documentary "Visiting Uwe" makes many things right and only missteps in small details. Hübner asks the right questions but the way he reads them from file cards often comes across a bit awkward. However, the overall direction of the documentary and especially the editing is confident and full of nice little twists that make "Visiting Uwe" unique and highly entertaining. Especially commendable is the way how Hübner intercuts interview sequences with behind-the-scenes footage. Just after Boll has made a pointed remark on Hollywood's vanity fair, Hübner cuts to a scene showing Boll trolling around with his dog. This juxtaposition of footage accentuates the portrait of a down-to-earth guy who just happens to be a filmmaker.

7/10

An Honest Surprise

[solidgameboy12-1 · 8/10 · 23 February 2009]

Visiting Uwe is a documentary that follows director Fabian Hubnar (Who I am not familiar with, but I'm from the U.S., so I feel safe in my reasoning for not knowing who he is) who interviews film pariah Uwe Boll (A director I'm familiar with) in a 50 minute documentary that follows and discusses the enigma of Uwe Boll.

The movie I watched was in German with English Subtitles, but I felt like I agreed with many things that Boll touched on in the interview, such as how marketing can make a bad movie seem good, and comments on some of Hollywood's well known directors and how he feels about someone like Michael Bay (Even to a point where about a half a second of audio was intentionally censored due to possible lawsuit from Bay would have been issued).

The documentary breaks away from it all in brief moments where you get to witness some parts of Boll's lifestyle, such as his home, his pets and the like. It is really interesting to hear him talk in an educated and scholarly manner, which in the U.S., he's known to using profane language and calling various celebrities names that I know I wouldn't say to any celebrity, not even Boll Himself.

I am pleased to say that after finishing Visiting Boll, I have much more of an appreciation of him. While not all of his movies can be gems, you have to admire a man who has persevered through odds and ends, such as dealing with actors that have track records that match the characters they have played in some movies(He brings up Michael Madsen and Ray Liotta) to dealing with actors that have done better movies but never act pompous or irrational about what they are doing (Udo Kier is the only one he mentions).

This documentary isn't perfect though; While Boll has a doctorate in literature, I would expect his vocabulary to be a bit more... "Scholarly", as opposed to a director who speaks in a less educated manner than what his profession might suggest, but he's being real, and there's nothing you can really do about that, at least every word out of his mouth isn't a four letter word.

But, minor inconveniences aside, Visiting Boll is a documentary worth watching. You can find the video through Google, and it's certainly nice to watch if you have time to watch the man who has earned the title "Ed Wood of 2000" and see who he really is.

You will enjoy every minute

[ai-14 · 10/10 · 25 September 2008]

I am not a fan of his movies, but you have to love the man. Other filmmakers just keep telling us the same boring PR-Crap over and over again. But Uwe Boll is keeping it real and his opinion on Hollywood and movie-making itself is priceless. It's no holds barred, when Uwe is setting the record straight. He may not be Hollywoods best man behind the camera, but he definitely kills in front of it!

While watching "Visiting Uwe", you will realize, that there is a bit of Boll in everyone of us. Let's be honest: We all think, that most of Jean Luc Godard's movies stunk - we are just afraid to admit the truth in public. But not Uwe Boll, our Don Quijote of the 21th Century!

Sit him in a chair, point the camera in his direction and keep rolling. Thats exactly, what the director of this documentary did and the result is purely amazing and highly entertaining.

I am looking forward to the release of "Revisiting Uwe". That's for sure!

Better than all of Boll’s films combined

[k-freitag · 10/10 · 4 November 2008]

I watched this documentary not because I am a fan of Uwe Boll but because I really enjoyed the previous work of host and director Fabian Hübner (have a look at my review for avant*garde). The big advantage of “Visting Uwe” is that one doesn’t need to be an admirer of Uwe Boll and his films in order to enjoy it. In contrary to most of the interviews with Boll, this one doesn’t want to exploit the controversy surrounding his person but tries to reflect his points of view on film, art and creativity.

The concept to talk with a widely detested mainstream director like Boll about Art-house, Godard, Tarkovsky or Lars von Trier is hilarious. One might think that “king of trash” can’t cope with such a “difficult” topic but that is not the case. I was surprised to see that Boll has serious knowledge in the field of film. He definitely knows what he is talking about. The fact that Hübner is equally trained makes the whole interview even more interesting and entertaining.

From time to time the discussion is interrupted by scenes in which Uwe Boll leads Hübner through his house and tells anecdotes about some of his belongings (for example the film reels in his basement) or plays with his dog in the garden.This is a good break from the interview and adds to the atmosphere.

Compared to its big brother “avant*garde”, Visiting Uwe seems more documentary like and in the end even turns into a mockumentary. The images are again visually striking and particularly the beginning and end scenes can, in terms of creativity, easily stand up to the avant*garde-series. The documentary was simultaneously shot with several cameras which creates some very interesting moments.

In the end “Visiting Uwe” is by no means your usual boring interview. It’s an entertaining and at the same time informative discussion between two film enthusiast, which is accompanied by a visually fresh style and wild punk rock music. If you want to learn about art-house films without falling asleep and at the same get an in-depth view in the mind of Uwe Boll, this is your place to start.