My Best Fiend (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski)

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

  • 80% of critics liked it
    (25 reviews)

  • 90% of users liked it
    (5,943 ratings)

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… More

Unrated,
Directed By
Genres
Documentary, Drama, Television
In Theaters
Oct 7, 1999 Wide
New Yorker Films

Critic Reviews

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    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.

  • Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

    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.

  • J. Hoberman, Village Voice

    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.

  • Janet Maslin, New York Times

    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.

  • Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

    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.

Read all 15 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

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Featured Audience Ratings

  • Jens S


    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… More

  • Ken S


    Kinski is even more insane that you've heard.

  • Anthony L


    The most successful collaboration of actor and director of all time? I think so. Putting the record straight, Herzog shows us the truth behind his best friend who also happened to be an egotistical maniac (and possibly the greatest actor of all time). A beautiful and heartfelt… More

  • Stella D


    L O L what a prick~ i need to watch fitzcarraldo again

  • Christopher M


    A revealing documentary that is highly entertaining, especially if you are a fan of the work of Herzog and or/ Klaus Kinski. They made some fantastic films together and this well designed documentary answers a lot of questions and is at times, very amusing and also very touching… More

Read all 9 featured audience ratings

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