My Best Fiend - 1999 - Dir. Herzog

Herzog and Kinski made five films together. The first of which, Aquirre, I watched yesterday. I suppose my interest was peaked was peaked in the Director/Actor and their supposedly explosive relationship. All right, I said supposedly because just having watched Herzog's take on the actor, I'm feeling a little cynical, but I don't think I can really deny that the two motherfuckers sure must've butt heads a whole lot. In fact, I even buy that the two guys probably did try killing each other. Although, it certainly seems like Herzog did a lot more threatening. As a documentary, I found it really interesting to watch Herzog more than Kinski, who seems to spend a great deal of the film trying to convince us that he is NOT Kinski. That he's not insane. Then admitting that he actually thought about firebombing Kinski's home. I suppose, Kinski did seem to have a tendency towards sabotaging the projects he was working on and Herzog certainly did seem to be able to control that actor, but at one point, you just have to really question Herzog. He does admit to being an instigator but is convinced that Kinski is to blame. It seems like these two guys just loved butting heads. Enjoyed the drama that it created. I mean, it's fucking Werner Herzog, who insisted on a ship being dragged over a mountain. Guy's a nutball. There's an old clip in the film of Herzog describing everything in the jungle as Misery. "The trees are Misery. The birds are misery." He seems nuts in a whole different way. Kinski was explosive and Herzog was implosive (I GUESS). I can't take Herzog at his word in this film, but his word certainly does create an interesting enough hour and forty minutes.

Kinski relaxing between shots.