Taking time out of my thrilling Friday night to blog for you. Sharon. Of course, namedropping you early on makes this entry slightly more interesting.
Since you blogged about crushes, the latest addition to my stable of crushes is German filmmaker Werner Herzog. One could say he is most well-known for his relationship with the most volatile of actors, the late Klaus Kinski (Nastassja's dad). Their hatred for each other was as deep as their love, or affection, so much so that at various times each seriously plotted to murder the other (this anecdote and more are documented in Herzog's doco about their relationship, My Best Fiend).
What was so detestable about them that they could hate each other so much? It is more understandable on Herzog's behalf, one must admit, since Kinski was not a very likeable personality. I think he was schizophrenic even, but who knows. He would throw fits on set, even shooting at a crew member (and not missing) during the making of Fitzcarraldo. In My Best Fiend, Herzog tells of the first time he met Kinski when they were flatmates. Kinski once locked himself in the bathroom for a week and when he re-emerged, the whole contents of the bathroom - including the whiteware - was reduced to such bits that one could sift it through a tennis racquet.
Anyway, how could anyone hate Herzog? He seems sane enough. At first. Oh, and he can be bossy, too, but I think people are happy to be bullied by him because he possesses that which bullies do not have: compassion.
But after watching his films and listening to the commentaries, one could be forgiven for thinking that Herzog is the real nut among the two! Let me count the ways... He trekked across the Sahara desert at the worst time, during a 20-year drought, where any hope of surviving was slim. He fulfilled a bet with another filmmaker by literally cooking and eating his shoe. He pulled a ship across an isthmus in the Amazon for the sake of his movie Fitzcarraldo. He hypnotized his whole cast while making the film Heart Of Glass. He walked around the perimeter of Germany because he felt his country was falling apart and he needed to keep it together.
Obviously, there is method in his 'madness'. Adam Phillips might not diagnose this as madness, since it is the sane who create. But I like to say that he is 'mad', affectionately. (Like Old Man Oscar who, when his daughter first brought her boyfriend home to meet him, licked the said boyfriend's toe - and that broke the ice, somehow!)
Hm, these thoughts on Herzog began after I got into a drunken (they were drunk, not me) discussion with a couple of artists at an opening bash. They asked me what films I liked and I replied I was into Herzog at the moment. Quickly, the line that "Herzog is nothing without Kinski" was thrown at me, just the sort of sweeping statement that is to be expected when the booze is free. I then said that some of Herzog's best work has been made after Kinski's death. To which they said that the blonde subject in Grizzly Man resembled Kinski anyway, and he's been chasing Kinski's ghost ever since. But they didn't say it as poetic as I just did. It was more like, No way Yeh Nah-nah..
I think people often focus on the Herzog-Kinski chemistry due to the popularity of My Best Fiend. There is so much more to Herzog's work than that; for instance, there is his quest for new images, his spooky sixth sense, his abject view of mother nature ("the birds don't sing, they only screech in pain"), his quirky sense of soundtracks, and his heart for humanity.
Perhaps he is the last visionary director that we have.
Since you blogged about crushes, the latest addition to my stable of crushes is German filmmaker Werner Herzog. One could say he is most well-known for his relationship with the most volatile of actors, the late Klaus Kinski (Nastassja's dad). Their hatred for each other was as deep as their love, or affection, so much so that at various times each seriously plotted to murder the other (this anecdote and more are documented in Herzog's doco about their relationship, My Best Fiend).
What was so detestable about them that they could hate each other so much? It is more understandable on Herzog's behalf, one must admit, since Kinski was not a very likeable personality. I think he was schizophrenic even, but who knows. He would throw fits on set, even shooting at a crew member (and not missing) during the making of Fitzcarraldo. In My Best Fiend, Herzog tells of the first time he met Kinski when they were flatmates. Kinski once locked himself in the bathroom for a week and when he re-emerged, the whole contents of the bathroom - including the whiteware - was reduced to such bits that one could sift it through a tennis racquet.
Anyway, how could anyone hate Herzog? He seems sane enough. At first. Oh, and he can be bossy, too, but I think people are happy to be bullied by him because he possesses that which bullies do not have: compassion.
But after watching his films and listening to the commentaries, one could be forgiven for thinking that Herzog is the real nut among the two! Let me count the ways... He trekked across the Sahara desert at the worst time, during a 20-year drought, where any hope of surviving was slim. He fulfilled a bet with another filmmaker by literally cooking and eating his shoe. He pulled a ship across an isthmus in the Amazon for the sake of his movie Fitzcarraldo. He hypnotized his whole cast while making the film Heart Of Glass. He walked around the perimeter of Germany because he felt his country was falling apart and he needed to keep it together.
Obviously, there is method in his 'madness'. Adam Phillips might not diagnose this as madness, since it is the sane who create. But I like to say that he is 'mad', affectionately. (Like Old Man Oscar who, when his daughter first brought her boyfriend home to meet him, licked the said boyfriend's toe - and that broke the ice, somehow!)
Hm, these thoughts on Herzog began after I got into a drunken (they were drunk, not me) discussion with a couple of artists at an opening bash. They asked me what films I liked and I replied I was into Herzog at the moment. Quickly, the line that "Herzog is nothing without Kinski" was thrown at me, just the sort of sweeping statement that is to be expected when the booze is free. I then said that some of Herzog's best work has been made after Kinski's death. To which they said that the blonde subject in Grizzly Man resembled Kinski anyway, and he's been chasing Kinski's ghost ever since. But they didn't say it as poetic as I just did. It was more like, No way Yeh Nah-nah..
I think people often focus on the Herzog-Kinski chemistry due to the popularity of My Best Fiend. There is so much more to Herzog's work than that; for instance, there is his quest for new images, his spooky sixth sense, his abject view of mother nature ("the birds don't sing, they only screech in pain"), his quirky sense of soundtracks, and his heart for humanity.
Perhaps he is the last visionary director that we have.
