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My Best Fiend (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski)

My Best Fiend (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski) (1999)

tomatometer

83

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

90

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 5,943

My Rating

Movie Info

To say the working relationship between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski was often stormy strains the boundaries of understatement. Kinski's tirades against Herzog are the stuff of legend -- Kinski's scabrous autobiography All I Need is Love features a number of venomous rants against the director far too foul to recount here, while Herzog had to threaten Kinski with murder to get him to complete his work on Aguirre, The Wrath Of God. However, the collaboration between these two

Unrated,

Documentary, Drama, Television

Sep 5, 2000

New Yorker Films

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All Critics (30) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (5) | DVD (6)

My Best Fiend is about two men who both wanted to be dominant, who both had all the answers, who were inseparably bound together in love and hate, and who created extraordinary work -- while all the time each resented the other's contribution.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What's the difference between artistry and bravado? This isn't a question I generally feel inclined to ask, but I'm compelled by the work of Werner Herzog, who scrambles the two until it's difficult to tell which is which.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Herzog offers some evidence of Kinski's great human warmth, somewhat more of his rage of unimaginable proportions, and a good demonstration of Kinski's uncanny capacity to corkscrew his way into the frame.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

While My Best Fiend -- does a splendid job of chronicling the high drama and creative pinnacles of their work together, it emphasizes the most public and bleakly amusing aspects of their story.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

With generous clips from Herzog and Kinski's collaborations, My Best Fiend is one of the great portraits of artists fighting, even with murderous rage, to reach the sublime.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A thoughtful and clever examination by the director of his longstanding friendship and creative partnership with the late Klaus Kinski.

October 26, 2007 Full Review Source: All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide

Herzog's and Kinski's collaboration was one of the strongest in cinema, and the movie does justice to that energy.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Herzog reveals the genius and madness of his best fiend Klaus Kinski.

December 5, 2005
ColeSmithey.com

It feels a lot more like a cheap shot than a tribute.

June 28, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

Kinski's egomania is offered up by a quote of his that the only interesting landscape on earth is that of the human face.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews
Reeling Reviews

The pairing of the director and actor invariably resulted in extraordinary creative collaborations. These men -- arrogant, ambitious, sadistic, fanatical, and in Kinski's case, probably insane -- certainly deserved each other.

November 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Pitch.com
Pitch.com

My Best Fiend is Herzog's contentious remembrance of the late actor but, while fascinating, it really doesn't add up to much.

June 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine

Kinski wasn't the wrath of God, but he was a damn fine actor, and this documentary so entranced and informed me, that I plan on going out and seeing every one of his films again.

January 21, 2002 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

As documentaries go, this one is second-rate, consisting of almost nothing but Herzog sitting in locations at which he and Kinski once filmed and reminiscing.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com
EricDSnider.com

Klaus Kinski was one helluva showman, and no filmmaker was better able to capture the explosive talent of his favourite fiend than the director of this fine documentary, Warner Herzog.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

Audience Reviews for My Best Fiend (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski)

In this very unusual documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog revisits the Peruvian jungle and other locations throughout Europe, where he filmed movies with his long-time protagonist Klaus Kinski. Throughout this journey that mostly consist of interviews with fellow companions and Herzog's unbelievably funny anecdotes about the love-hate relationship with the egomaniac actor. While all that's filmed and presented really calmly and may sound boring for many, it is still full of humor and very interesting insights both into film making and Kinski's personality. There is also some original footage of his tantrums, which is clearly the highlight of this film. The fact that there was more to Kinksi than met the superficial eye is the surprise of this film. And the final scene with the butterfly is so incredibly sweet and beautiful, you actually feel maybe he wasn't such an asshole after all.
September 23, 2007
ironclad1609

Super Reviewer

Kinski is even more insane that you've heard.
June 15, 2007
kenstachnik

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • I Need Love (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski) (DE)
  • I Need Love (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski) (UK)
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