• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Kinski & Herzog

Rat

Not bored. Never bored.,
Rat
Joined
May 19, 2003
Messages
10,629
Location
Leicester, UK
I guess I don't expect much of a response to this, but I just got Mein Liebster Freude on DVD. Anyone seen it?

It's a documentary by Werner Herzog consisting of his memories of his life and work with Klaus Kinski.

Kinski is one of those annoying people whom you have to admire for their talent, but hate for being such arses. Egomaniac cannot begin to sum up the purely egocentric psychopathy of the man, but it's a fantastic story. And there are some fantastic anecdotes, as well as filmed evidence of some of his wild rages.

Great stuff.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
Yes I have seen it. I enjoyed it immensely. It was very interesting to go back and watch some of their collaborations. Just the information on how Kinski would choose to enter a frame has me watching the screen intensely.

I find their collaboration wonderful - genius is not too strong a word, I think. Aguirre seizes my heart and mind and leaves me enthralled. It's clear that the madness displayed by the character is not just acting, but part and parcel of Kinski. Absolutely riveting.
 
I haven't seen that documentary but I also admire Kinski. "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is probably the movie where he is portrayed as he was in real life. And "Cobra Verde" maybe. I read once an accurate description of the heros he played, they were described as "persons above ethics". Indeed, "good" and "evil" loose their meaning with Kinski...
 
Well thank Ed it's not just me. I love the idea of genius being so close to madness. It makes me feel better anyway.:)

I have Aguirre on my wishlist at amazon. I've seen it twice, but don't actually own it. And I've still never seen Woyzeck. I really need to make my wishes more clear at Christmas time.

I'd been a great fan of Kinski's (and Herzog's) work for so long, it was only earlier this year that I discovered he was dead. And has been for over a decade. I didn't realize he was so old, either. Quite an accomplished life, so I really want to get hold of his autobiography.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
ratcomp1974 said:
I guess I don't expect much of a response to this, but I just got Mein Liebster Freude on DVD. Anyone seen it?

It's a documentary by Werner Herzog consisting of his memories of his life and work with Klaus Kinski.

Kinski is one of those annoying people whom you have to admire for their talent, but hate for being such arses. Egomaniac cannot begin to sum up the purely egocentric psychopathy of the man, but it's a fantastic story. And there are some fantastic anecdotes, as well as filmed evidence of some of his wild rages.

Great stuff.

Cheers,
Rat.
Click to expand...
I also love this documentary. Important correction, though -- It's called "Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski" - "My Dearest Enemy..." But it was released in the U.S. under the title "My Best Fiend," a hilarious play on the words friend/fiend, and reference to Kinski's role in "Nosferatu."

Kinski was the craziest motherf-er ever to walk onto a movie set. You don't have to take anyone's word for it; it's laid out plainly in this documentary. He was easily triggered by sensing he was not at any given moment the absolute center of attention. I can't remember it was in Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo, both of which were filmed in the S.A. jungle, where one of the crew was injured in a plane crash, and once everyone on the set started to show concern about her well-being, Kinski went into one of his ballistic spasms. He threatened to walk off the movie (meaning take a boat down river), which prompted Herzog to promise with all apparent sincerity to shoot him dead before he got around the next bend. He stayed. Another case he went into a 3 hour screaming tirade, directly into Herzog's face, because his coffee that morning hadn't been hot enough.

So many more anecdotes. Everyone who loves movies should see this, and see all 4 movies they made together.

Kinski1.jpg
 
I can't believe I got the title wrong. I realize (of course) that the English title was a friend/fiend pun, but had mistaken the German title for a Freunde(friend)/Freude(misery) pun. A case of reading what one expects to read. Much of Nietzsche fails to translate because of the puns and other wordplay. Translate Geist to spirit, and half the meaning is lost.

I've still not seen π, but it's on my list of films to see. I am one of those tedious people who knows π to an unnecessarily large number of places. 40 or so, that is, not in the hundreds of thousands.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
They showed this on IFC a last year.

A good companion is the other Herzog/Kinski Documentary
"Burden Of Dreams"
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/

which was specifically about the making of "Fitzcarraldo"

I loved it when the natives asked Herzog if he wanted them to kill the crazy man.

Also revealing was where they showed Kinski doing the scene in the belltower all crazy and Kinski-like, and the footage of Jason Robards doing the same scene.

Imagine that movie with Robards instead of Kinski? it would have been strange, like Harvey Keitel instead of Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now".
 
thrombus29 said:
They showed this on IFC a last year.

A good companion is the other Herzog/Kinski Documentary
"Burden Of Dreams"
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/

which was specifically about the making of "Fitzcarraldo"

I loved it when the natives asked Herzog if he wanted them to kill the crazy man.

...
Click to expand...
Isn't there something in there about how the natives thought of Herzog as the truly dangerous (and respectable) man, because he was so calm and determined in the face of Kinski's tirades, not to mention the other difficulties of filming in the jungle on a shoestring. They knew who the real boss was.
 
thrombus29 said:
They showed this on IFC a last year.

A good companion is the other Herzog/Kinski Documentary
"Burden Of Dreams"
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/

which was specifically about the making of "Fitzcarraldo"

I loved it when the natives asked Herzog if he wanted them to kill the crazy man.
Click to expand...
Wow, I totally forgot about this movie. That scene is great!
 
Yeah, it's hilarious. High points in "My Best Fiend" are Kinski's portrayal of Jesus in his Jesus Tour and the part where he yells at the guy(I think it was the producer) on the set of "Fitzcarraldo" for providing him with food that doesn't taste good.
 
Some of the parts of "My Best Fiend" where Herzog is just talking about Kinski are almost as funny as the actual footage of Kinski. A few examples...

1) Kinski shows up in the jungle and imagines himself the apotheosis of nature boy, complete with ridiculous jungle fasion. So he has a photographer follow him into the woods and take pictures of him sitting on a log. Herzog says something along the lines that he seriously thought of himself as some sort of nature god.

2) After the war, housing was very short in Germany, and multiple families had to live together in what had been single family flats. Herzog, then a teenager, and his parents lived in an apartment, by amazing coincidence, with Kinski, then in his 20's, and another family. One day Kinski locked himself in the bathroom, and proceeded have a 3 day tantrum without coming out. After he emerged, all the porcelin fixtures in the bathroom were so completely smashed up that you could have sifted them through a tennis racket. This is all according to Herzog, but he sounds credible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom