Kinski: My Best Fiend

Actors: Isabelle Adjani, Claudia Cardinale, Justo Gonzalez, Mick Jagger, Klaus Kinski
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Category: DVD

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 26 reviews
Sales Rank: 42191

Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6

MPN: ANBD11236D
ISBN: 6305970955
UPC: 013131123692
EAN: 9786305970958
ASIN: 6305970955

Theatrical Release Date: 1999
Release Date: August 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Kinski: My Best Fiend

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Customer Reviews

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4 out of 5 stars Hilarious portrayal of an impossible personality.    November 1, 2008
W.Kim (Los Angeles, California United States)
Absolutely hilarious... Though you do wish the documentary was a bit more balanced. Kinski may well have been the ultimate nightmare actor, but director Herzog drove his crews and actors to extremes that would drive anyone crazy. Still this is a surprisingly fun documentary about an egotistical actor, who inspired even the most gentle, simple tribal people who met him (during the filming of Fitzcaraldo and Aguirre: Wrath of God) to kill him. Would make a great triple bill with the documentaries of the productions of Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and Gilliam's ill-fated Don Quixote project.



4 out of 5 stars Excellent doc    September 14, 2008
Cosmoetica (New York, USA)
Werner Herzog's 1999 documentary, Klaus Kinski: My Best Fiend, is yet another in the dazzling array of Herzog documentary, or documentary-like, films. This one follows his turbulent friendship and creative partnership with the legendary German actor Klaus Kinski. Herzog also serves as narrator, in German (with English subtitles, or dubbed into English). In the 1970s and 1980s the pair collaborated to make five indelibly memorable great films: Aguirre: The Wrath Of God (1972), Nosferatu: Phantom Of The Night (1979), Woyzek (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and Cobra Verde (1988).
In a sense, this film is pure hagiography, only in wink and a nod reverse, as Herzog proudly cements Kinski's reputation as the madman of 20th Century film; but in the hands of any other director that's all this film would be, schmaltzy hagiography. In the capable hands of Herzog, this film is a memorable experience in its own right.... The film also has other unexpected moments of fun and pleasure, including bizarre outtakes from a supposed earlier version of Fitzcarraldo, starring Jason Robards as Fitzcarraldo, with a goofy Mick Jagger as his even odder sidekick. Whether or not this is true footage, or was merely done as a gag, is left to the viewer's imagination, but it's hard to imagine that Herzog would have ever wanted to make such a film.
Kinski died in 1991, in Marin County, California, at the age of sixty-five, just three years after his last collaboration with Herzog on Cobra Verde, yet Herzog seems to never have gotten over it, for the better or the worse. The whole film, despite its mockery and offbeat tone, is a most loving tribute of one artist to another, even as Herzog claims, `'Every gray hair on my head I call Kinski.' Yet, the two men and artists seemed to bring out the best in each other, for Kinski's career long predated Herzog's, and included small roles in epics like Doctor Zhivago, but no one today recalls a single role of Kinski's outside the Herzog milieu. That, alone, sums up why this documentary is a must see for Herzog fans, and fans of cinema.



5 out of 5 stars The complexity of genius    July 2, 2008
Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA)
Werner Herzog, one of the greatest directors of our time, and Klaus Kinski, one of its greatest actors, collaborated with one another in five films. Both were geniuses, both stubbornly protective of their artistic integrity, and both slightly egomaniac (actually, more than "slightly"). This documentary, made by Herzog, is an effort on his part, after Kinski's death, to make sense of their relationship.

Herzog's conclusion is that they complemented and genuinely liked one another, although it's also the case that each of them experienced episodes of great rage and hatred for one another. In fact, both admitted to wanting to kill the other at times. But together they managed to make some of the greatest films of the century.

Kinski comes across as an absolutely fascinating character: possessed of a hair trigger and ferocious temper that could explode unexpectedly, he was the terror of camera crews, fellow actors, and sometimes Herzog himself. Curiously, Herzog first met Kinski when Kinski was a struggling young actor and Herzog a boy of fifteen. Kinski stayed in Herzog's mother's boarding house in Munich. Even then his temper was apparent. On one occasion he shut himself up in a bathroom for 48 hours, ranting, raving, and destroying until, as Herzog says, every piece of porcelain in the bathroom was so shattered that you could filter it through a tennis racket.

Although in the middle of wild nature (South America and Africa) for three of Herzog's films, and although he liked to say how much of a "natural man" he was, Kinski in fact feared and disliked nature. He had a germ phobia, which caused him to dislike both human contact and the messiness of the jungle. He was a terrible bully, but like most bullies was also a bit of a coward.

But the film isn't uniformly critical of Kinski, as an earlier reviewer says. In fact, it's an honest and fascinating look at the wellspring of his genius. Herzog speculates several times that the intense temper tantrums were Kinski's way of purging himself before he went before the camera--a way of emptying his mind and spirit to enter fully into the moment once in character.

Well worth watching, both for Herzog and Kinski fans, and those interested in artistic genius.


5 out of 5 stars Klaus Kinski - My Best Fiend    July 13, 2007
John Farr
Astounding documentary captures this unusually temperamental pairing of two big talents, who both needed, and couldn't stand, each other. We see this from Herzog's side (Kinski had died several years before), but the rendering doesn't feel one-sided or cruel. Below all the mutual frustration and rage lies a core of mutual respect, even tenderness. A remarkable portrait that illustrates the extremes and dichotomies of human relationships.


4 out of 5 stars Werner Herzog: Every grey hair on my head, I call Kinski.    March 2, 2007
Galina (Virginia, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The documentary made by Werner Herzog tells about the legendary love-hate relationship between the director who was ready to climb to Hell for his every movie and border-line insane genius actor Klaus Kinski who might have been one of the creatures from Hell that Herzog had to face. It is hard to imagine two people more different than Herzog and Kinski: "...stone and waves, the coldest ice and hottest flames have more in common, differ less" but they both were driven and obsessed artists. Famous for his wild and ferocious talent and temperament to match, Kinski was incredibly difficult to work with. He wrote about himself, "I am a wild animal born in captivity, in a zoo but where beast would have claws, I have talent". Kinski's talent was fully realized in five films that he made with Werner Herzog over a fifteen-year working period, starting with astounding "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1973), and then following with "Fitzcarraldo," "Nosferatu" (1979), inspired by Murnau's silent vampire classic; "Woyzeck" (1979), about a 19th century army private who seems mad to others because he looks and acts so differently from them, and "Cobra Verde" (1988). It is impossible to imagine any other actor starring in these films and they are without doubt the best Kinski ever made (and he made hundreds of films). Thanks to the Herzog's documentary we are able to learn what exactly went on behind the stunning images and unforgettable performances. According to Herzog, "people like Marlon Brando are just kindergarden comparing to Kinski. He is mad and unpredictable." They liked each other, they hated each other, and they respected each other at the same time making plans to murder each other. Kinski, who respected Herzog, and valued his friendship, confessed to the director that in his autobiography he would describe their relationship in not very flattering terms - otherwise, the crowd would not read it. Herzog recalls how they both would sit together at the bench after the shooting and discuss what Kinski would write in his book. I am curious if they discussed and agreed upon the following passage and if Herzog helped Kinski with some of the colorful metaphors: "I absolutely despise this murderous Herzog! Huge red ants should p**s into his lying eyes, gobble up his balls, penetrate his a**hole and eat his guts."

Even after watching the fascinating documentary, it is difficult to fully understand the relationship between two giants but as Herzog admits, the only thing that counts is what we see on the screen and what we see is amazing.