Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World

PG-13

Released Aug 19, 2016

1 hr. 38 min.

Documentary

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92%

144 Reviews

Tomatometer

68%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Filmmaker Werner Herzog examines the past, present and future of the Internet and how it affects human interaction and modern society.

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Critics Consensus

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World finds Werner Herzog bringing his distinctive documentarian gifts to bear on a timely topic with typically thought-provoking results.

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Audience Member

Loved this film. Need more like it! This was part of my 'future of humanity' documentary binge this week, after watching films like Transcendent Man and The Future of Work and Death. Lo and Behold was my favourite, Herzog's commentary is unmatched.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

ant d

I was expecting more, but it was somewhat boring.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

My issue with this documentary is that it tries to cover so much that moments feel like a shuffle playlist instead of a best of compilation

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

The Werner Herzog documentary has certain well-known features: importantly, the director narrates these films in his inimitable German accent, often appearing or at least conducting interviews from an offscreen space (as he does here). His early docos often focused on visionary (or slightly cracked) individuals single-mindedly pursuing their dreams but since Encounters at the End of the World (2007), he has often cast his net more widely, choosing topics because of their intrinsic interest and then riffing on them. He likes to go beyond the accountant's truth to get at something more "ecstatic" which might sometimes be more poetic than strictly-speaking truthful. That may have been the aim here in this wide-ranging review of the effects of the internet on human life, but things feel a bit looser and less focused (even for Herzog). The film is broken into ten parts that use interviews with different people (some, like Elon Musk, may fit the mold of Herzog's earlier protagonists) who have something to do with the cause and effects of the internet. We are treated to brief but often stimulating discussions of: the start of the internet; the negative effects of trolling; the ways that the internet could still allow us to communicate on Mars (cue Musk); the future of artificial intelligence (and robot soccer teams); driverless cars; what would happen if solar flares disrupted the internet; the negative impact of hackers; the possible use of internet disruption and hacking in warfare (cold or otherwise); gamifying the cure for cancer; and so on. Directly after the film, I felt it was a bit of a mess - but a lot of the content has stuck with me and generated new and different thoughts about the world and its fragility (mostly). So, it must be a success, and particularly by Herzog's standards. But I also felt rather depressed about just how little I know about the world and the way that the internet has grown fundamental to it. I'm not a luddite but I had hoped somehow that trying to keep things simple would mean keeping them safer and easier for me and my family. But things have just moved too far and too fast in recent years. Hell, I'm old.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A fun collection of items, but there's no storyline. Although it is at some times thought-provoking, overall there was not as much for me to learn or think about as the movie claims there would be. Overall, I did not feel like I learned or felt something while watching it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

The good parts are extremely compelling, but it's not always good.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

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Werner Herzog

Director

Werner Herzog

Narrator

Elon Musk

Self

Lawrence Krauss

Self

Lucianne Walkowicz

Self

Werner Herzog

Writer

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Adam Nayman

Vice

Lo and Behold seems to be stoking fears that our tools are evolving beyond our capacity to control them, which offers an intriguing twist on his usual theme of the indifference of nature.

Jul 9, 2018

Full Review

David Stratton

The Australian

As with many Herzog films the results are complex, endlessly fascinating, sometimes disturbing and often weird.

Rated: 3.5/5

Feb 17, 2017

Full Review

Dan Jolin

Empire Magazine

A lesser Werner, but still worth dipping your brain into.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 2, 2016

Full Review

Aaron Boalick

Vague Visages

It is Herzog’s simultaneous exhibition of curiosity, awe, and irreverence in the face of the digitally connected world that makes Lo and Behold a unique treatment of its subject that is not to be missed.

Dec 1, 2023

Full Review

Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

...a purely bathetic argument, with Herzog’s off-screen questions coming off as those of a very clumsy leading prosecutor...

Jan 18, 2023

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Herzog's humanist approach to the documentary asks a lot of questions, and instead of providing answers, he invokes a desire to discuss these ideas on our own.

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 11, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Filmmaker Werner Herzog examines the past, present and future of the Internet and how it affects human interaction and modern society.

Director: Werner Herzog
Executive Producer: Dave Arnold, Jim McNiel, David D. Moore, Tennille Teague
Screenwriter: Werner Herzog
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Magnolia Pictures, Saville Productions
Rating: PG-13 (Some Thematic Elements|Brief Strong Language)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 19, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 23, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $594.5K

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