My Best Fiend
Encyclopedia
My Best Fiend is a 1999
documentary film
by Werner Herzog
about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski
. It was released on DVD
in 2000 by Anchor Bay
.
's Jesus
tours, in which he performed – after his own interpretation – the role of Jesus. Kinski harangues the audience for not paying attention to him, curses wildly, has the microphone taken away from him, and, screaming, steals it back. Kinski had to leave one of these tours in order to star in his first Herzog film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God
. This was the first of five films that the two would make together, including Nosferatu the Vampyre (1978); Woyzeck
(1978); Fitzcarraldo
(1982); and Cobra Verde
(1987).
Herzog presents selected pieces of Kinski's biography. Herzog tours a substantially renovated apartment which he and his family shared with Kinski and other boarders, looks at a film clip of the first time he ever saw Kinski on film, and presents a large amount of footage from the sets of their various movies. Herzog recounts the heated arguments and sometimes violent altercations between them, including the oft-repeated story of Herzog threatening to shoot Kinski should he leave the production of Aguirre. He also draws on footage from Burden of Dreams
, a documentary of the making of Fitzcarraldo, a particularly difficult film for their relationship.
The Kinski that Herzog presents, however, is not solely the raving madman he is sometimes remembered as. Herzog has a deep respect for Kinski's acting talent. He also displays a tender side of Kinski. From interviews with two of the women who starred opposite him, Eva Mattes
(from Woyzeck
) and Claudia Cardinale
(from Fitzcarraldo
), one would get the impression that Kinski was a loving and gentle, indeed a calm man. The final sequence in the film is a series of shots of Kinski playing with a butterfly
in the Peru
vian jungle.
Herzog describes Kinski's death as the result of living so strenuously and fully ("like a comet" as he describes it). As he talks, the documentary shows the final scene from Cobra Verde, in which Kinski collapses in the surf as he tries to pull a large boat out to sea. The film, then, is something of an elegy
to Kinski, Herzog's dear friend and sometimes foe.
.
, My Best Fiend held a 77% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
.
Janet Maslin
of the New York Times admiringly called the film "[a] captivating documentary, a film that serves as an eloquent coda to their unforgettable creative partnership.". Roger Ebert
gave the film three stars out of a possible four, saying:
Jonathan Rosenbaum
, writing for the Chicago Reader, was less enthusiastic, calling the film, "The art-movie equivalent to writer-director Blake Edwards
's Trail of the Pink Panther
":
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
. It was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2000 by Anchor Bay
Anchor Bay
Anchor Bay may refer to:* Anchor Bay, California, a small coastal community in northern California* Anchor Bay, is a bay in Malta, also known as Prajjiet or Popeye Village Bay* Anchor Bay Entertainment, a home video company...
.
Summary
The film opens with shots from one of Klaus KinskiKlaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
's Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
tours, in which he performed – after his own interpretation – the role of Jesus. Kinski harangues the audience for not paying attention to him, curses wildly, has the microphone taken away from him, and, screaming, steals it back. Kinski had to leave one of these tours in order to star in his first Herzog film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Aguirre, the Wrath of God is a 1972 West German adventure film written and directed by Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski stars in the title role. The soundtrack was composed and performed by German progressive/Krautrock band Popol Vuh...
. This was the first of five films that the two would make together, including Nosferatu the Vampyre (1978); Woyzeck
Woyzeck (1979 film)
Woyzeck is a 1979 film by the German director Werner Herzog that stars Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes. It is an adaptation of the play of the same name by German dramatist Georg Büchner.-Plot:...
(1978); Fitzcarraldo
Fitzcarraldo
Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski as the title character. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru, who has to pull a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber...
(1982); and Cobra Verde
Cobra Verde
Cobra Verde is a 1987 German drama film based upon Bruce Chatwin's 1980 novel, The Viceroy of Ouidah. The film depicts the life of a fictional slave trader named Francisco Manoel da Silva who is played by the prolific German actor Klaus Kinski...
(1987).
Herzog presents selected pieces of Kinski's biography. Herzog tours a substantially renovated apartment which he and his family shared with Kinski and other boarders, looks at a film clip of the first time he ever saw Kinski on film, and presents a large amount of footage from the sets of their various movies. Herzog recounts the heated arguments and sometimes violent altercations between them, including the oft-repeated story of Herzog threatening to shoot Kinski should he leave the production of Aguirre. He also draws on footage from Burden of Dreams
Burden of Dreams
Burden of Dreams is a feature-length documentary and making-of directed by Les Blank, shot during and about the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo, filmed in the jungles of South America....
, a documentary of the making of Fitzcarraldo, a particularly difficult film for their relationship.
The Kinski that Herzog presents, however, is not solely the raving madman he is sometimes remembered as. Herzog has a deep respect for Kinski's acting talent. He also displays a tender side of Kinski. From interviews with two of the women who starred opposite him, Eva Mattes
Eva Mattes
Eva Mattes is a German-Austrian actress.Mattes appeared in four films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and A Man Called Eva , as a bearded film director based on the then recently deceased Fassbinder...
(from Woyzeck
Woyzeck (1979 film)
Woyzeck is a 1979 film by the German director Werner Herzog that stars Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes. It is an adaptation of the play of the same name by German dramatist Georg Büchner.-Plot:...
) and Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
(from Fitzcarraldo
Fitzcarraldo
Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski as the title character. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru, who has to pull a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber...
), one would get the impression that Kinski was a loving and gentle, indeed a calm man. The final sequence in the film is a series of shots of Kinski playing with a butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
in the Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian jungle.
Herzog describes Kinski's death as the result of living so strenuously and fully ("like a comet" as he describes it). As he talks, the documentary shows the final scene from Cobra Verde, in which Kinski collapses in the surf as he tries to pull a large boat out to sea. The film, then, is something of an elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
to Kinski, Herzog's dear friend and sometimes foe.
Critical reception
The documentary was screened out of competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival1999 Cannes Film Festival
The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 12-23, 1999. The Palme d'Or went to the French-Belgian film Rosetta by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.-Jury:* David Cronenberg * André Téchiné * Barbara Hendricks...
.
, My Best Fiend held a 77% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
of the New York Times admiringly called the film "[a] captivating documentary, a film that serves as an eloquent coda to their unforgettable creative partnership.". Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film three stars out of a possible four, saying:
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
, writing for the Chicago Reader, was less enthusiastic, calling the film, "The art-movie equivalent to writer-director Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
's Trail of the Pink Panther
Trail of the Pink Panther
Trail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and the last in which Peter Sellers starred as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, although Sellers died before production began and the film thus contains no original material...
":
External links
- My Best Fiend on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- A short transcript from the film explaining both Kinski and Herzog's attitude to the jungle, from Herzog's point of view.