MovieChat Forums > Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski (1999) Discussion > disappointed

disappointed

posted 16 years ago by sonOfDan
7 replies | jump to latest

Was anyone else disappointed in this film?

I became interested in "My Best Fiend" after watching the commentary to "Aguirre: Wrath of God," in which Herzog made several references to it. I was hoping to learn a lot more about Kinski and what made him tick. I looked forward to more insight into his friendship with Herzog and to see more intimate interviews with Kinski. Instead, the film was mainly on-the-set footage of Kinski, and Herzog visiting and talking about places from his past.

This film wasn't poorly made, and maybe it was exactly the film Herzog wanted to make. Perhaps the kind of footage I hoped for simply didn't exist. I just didn't feel like I got to know much more about Kinski or his relationship with Herzog than I already knew from watching the "Aguirre" commentary.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lilruffryda88 16 years ago

I remember reading somewhere that Herzog destroys all the film he doesn't use for the final cut of each of his films so that may be a reason why the type of footage you would have expected to be included in the documentary wasn't.

I wasn't so much disappointed with the doco, but I would have liked to see more footage of Kinski in action.

[–] silesius-1 16 years ago

This sounds like something Herzog would definitely do.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pynkpanther 15 years ago

i was disappointed only in that the documentary did not have subtitles. i would have loved to have seen what kinski was saying in his confrontation with the production manager on the set of "fitzcarraldo".

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 15 years ago

Disappointed? Not at all!
If you have watched already every one of the films made by Herzog/Kinski, then probably you knew already most of the anecdotes told by Herzog in this docu.
Even more if you have already seen another magnificent docu called "Burden of Dreams" about what happened behind the cameras during the shooting of Fitzcarraldo.
However even if you have seen all those films, listened all the commentaries by Herzog and read complete essays on the subject, this documentary is still a great experience.
The best way to define it is like a "love letter" written by a "clinically sane" man to another even more "clinically sane". You can see how much Herzog misses his old pal and liebster Feind. That scene with Kinski and the butterfly is the best evidence of that rageful love.

Great docu about two of the last "true" artists that have worked making movies. And while doing it they also created unmatched masterpieces and an entire mythology around them.

9/10

BTW for the fellow who was disappointed because his DVD have not subtitles for one of Kinski tantrums: The "fight" between Kinski and the producer during the shooting of Fitzcarraldo is subtitled on my DVD copy. Dunno why yours is not. However you are not missing anything important just a bunch of obscenities and threats. The image of Kinski about to explode is what really counts.

[–] balthazar_bee 15 years ago

BTW for the fellow who was disappointed because his DVD have not subtitles for one of Kinski tantrums: The "fight" between Kinski and the producer during the shooting of Fitzcarraldo is subtitled on my DVD copy. Dunno why yours is not. However you are not missing anything important just a bunch of obscenities and threats.

Ohhhhh...I don't know. Some of Kinski's lines deserve to be understood. Of course, there's the golden, "Lick my ass, man! We're making a movie!" Even funnier -- and fifty times more baffling -- is when he threatens to punch the production manager:

"It will be like that time with the costume in your car in Holland!"

Now, this is from memory, so I may have botched it a bit, but if someone can reveal some sort of coherent meaning, I'd be most grateful.

Not that it isn't already hilarious.