framptonhollis During Werner Herzog's "My Best Fiend", I couldn't help but find myself utterly shocked, despite already having some knowledge of Klaus Kinski's infamous behavior and madness. Who wouldn't be shocked after hearing some of Herzog's stories about the man?"My Best Fiend" is a documentary about Herzog's complicated, love-hate relationship with actor Klaus Kinski, who acted in five of Herzog's films. No other filmmaker was able to work with Kinski more than once, but Herzog is not like many other filmmakers, and this documentary is not like many other documentaries. It's a very personal film, and most of it is Werner Herzog telling mind boggling stories about his relationship with Kinski. It explores both Kinski's frightening insanity, and his sweeter, lovable side. What was perhaps most shocking about Kinski was not his temper and madness, but his kindness.This film works as a brilliant character study of an infamous actor, and it also provides the viewer with a glimpse into one of the strangest actor-director friendships of all time. It's also enormously entertaining, bizarre, and, at times, somewhat comic.

Michael_Elliott My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski (1999)*** 1/2 (out of 4) Director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski made a total of five films together, which might not seem a lot compared to other director-actor combos but then again not too many directors wanted to work with Kinski more than once. The two had a very troubled love-hate relationship that might have caused plenty of drama on the sets but fans of the two were treated with some remarkable movies. AGUIRRE THE WRATH OF GOD, FITZCARRALDO, NOSFERATU, WOYZECK and COBRA VERDE were the films and it could be argued that three of them are masterpieces. There are countless documents or interviews out there with many directors talking about how horrid of a person Kinski was to work with but it's interesting to see Herzog mention that while he was awful the two of them really needed one another. MY BEST FIEND tells a great many stories about the trouble that happened behind the scenes and ever so often we're greeted to some actual video footage of Kinski having one of his rants. There's an audio example too as well as getting to see Kinski on stage where he was playing Jesus and going off on one of these crazy rants. This documentary is so strange because it really is a touching hand out from Herzog to Kinski but at the same time most of what's being talked about is bad stuff. Kinski certainly isn't shown in a good light but at the same time you can't help but smile at his madness and in reality start to like him even as the bad stories pile up. MY BEST FIEND is far from a great film. I think one problem is that more good stories about the two probably would have helped. I think the film also lacks so much footage be it on the set of these films or other stuff that you can't help but also wonder how many of the stories are true. With that said, MY BEST FIEND is an interesting document to say the least and a fitting tribute to the madness of both Kinski and Herzog.

Cosmoeticadotcom 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.

John DeWitt Don't know if Werner intended to produce a masterpiece when he assembled this collage of experience around his exposure to Klaus. The result exceeds, at times, a lot of his intentional writing and directing efforts. One can only imagine the frightening experiences of Klaus' roommates in later years. The amazing accomplishment of Werner's career is that he was able to capture some of Klaus' time on earth actually harnessed to script and direction. Who knows if Klaus took life seriously (seriously) or was merely preparing for future roles of greatness, only playing with the present for his own delight. This 'Best Friend' could have been typecast forever, accidentally exceeded his own self-imposed limitations in only a few films, surely in this film, and we are eternally grateful to Werner for providing this insight into their entwined lives. Herzog should earn highest awards for patience and perseverance shown for his best friend.