Bruce Chatwin, who died of AIDS in 1989, was an explorer and writer and, in more ways than one, was a brother to Werner Herzog. Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin, immortalizes the man. But since Herzog is Herzog, he’s not going to do it conventionally, or at least he’ll try a different approach here.

One of Herzog’s approaches involve tracing other explorers. One of those is Chatwin’s distant relative, Charles Millward, who explored Patagonia before both men did. This seems like a digression but it’s as if he’s trying to say that exploration is an instinct. An itch that past generations have scratched, one that we’re restraining ourselves from doing.

Herzog also differentiates this film from others, which is, after all, a part of his job. Most films populate its spaces with its protagonist, the director usually abreast with their subjects or a few steps away. He could have dug up more archive footage of Chatwin but he instead points his camera to things like Millward’s grave.

Years have passed between Millward and Chatwin and Herzog and us. Herzog’s visuals don’t show characters in flesh or as ghosts like most films do. Instead, he reminds his audience of distance and time, concrete concepts allowing for scientific insight as well as an unsentimental way to mourn a kindred spirit.

Instead of Chatwin, then, his friend and fellow scholars, including Herzog himself, get screen time. One scene has the latter looking through the former’s notes about the song lines of Aboriginal Australia. It’s an admission, in some way, that what comes with exploration is the idea that explorers will come in contact with ideas that they won’t understand.

That said, this film is more prose that poetry, this filmed needed a little of the latter. This is also Herzog’s second project last year, and some of the interview segments and title cards suggests rough edges. The title cards, by the way, indicate chapters, and the appearance of those cards with their terrible font feel disruptive.

Another thing that Herzog does in the film is converse with subjects from behind the camera. He’s attempting to do what others in films like this have done – break the fourth wall and add spontaneity. But in some scenes, it seems like he’s prompting his interviews instead of letting them tell the story. Other scenes seem like an attempt to find through lines between Chatwin’s career and his, but they let him indulge in ethnography and the lesser kind of recycling.

However, Herzog’s lesser instincts are excusable if it means hearing Herzog’s iconic voice. He has a reputation for being difficult, as we all know. But his insight also provides levity, like the anecdotes and small talk we hear during wakes. He addresses Chatwin’s sexuality in a respectful way. And any film about people turning the gears on their minds is worth making and watching.

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is available in demand.