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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Van Gogh of Acting., February 25, 2002
Want to become a movie star? Go to coffee houses around college campuses, stand on a chair and recite the poetry of Francois Villon; the medieval (1431-1463) student who killed a priest in a tavern brawl, was subsequently acquitted but still had to flee Paris and live a life of crime among outcasts. As you pass the hat you find that you're doing such a magnificent job that soon you'll be able fill entire sports arenas with Shakespeare's solliloquiess---Performing them that is; you'll do Richard the Third, and then the audience will wait breathlessly while you change costumes and come back in character as Hamlet. Repeat with Othello, etc. See how easy it is? Now do it.
----------------------------------------------------------------- To say Kinski was talented, or that he lived on the edge, or that he was a bit too intense for his friends or wives is, of course, an understatement. Nor did fame and money do much to quench the anger or appetite of this outcast. One of his wives, as she entered the hospital to deliver their child, wondered why all the prostitutes on the street waved at them and seemed so friendly. Herzog, despite plotting Kinsi's murder, kept using him as his leading man. Yet the greatest tribute may be not Herzog's but the fact that, during his lifetime many fellow actors spoke about how kind Kinski was to work with--a true accolade to a narcissistic egomaniac who apparently never lost his humanity by the expedient method of never being able to stop being hurt by life. As he put it, he never allowed his wounds to fully close. Though the reader might conclude that he was unable to have his wounds close, no matter how much he tried. Speaking of method, Kinski slams 'method acting' in this book:
'These morons go into a sort of St. Vitus dance as an exercise before performing' and 'What is this idiocy? As if a school could teach me how to feel' Less credible is his slamming of Herzog: 'A megalomaniac' and 'I kicked him... Herzog groveled' Especially when one considers that his most memorable performances were in Herzog's films. Kinski opens his autobiography with a quote from one of his idols, Van Gogh. Too lengthy to repeat here but the essence of it being that all artists are cripples trying clumsily to express what was expressed only once-- by Jesus Christ. Unsurprisingly, Kinski also toured Europe late in his life, reading from the gospels and insulting some audience members who did not share his view of Jesus as a criminal hunted down by society, while hugging others who shared his 'outcast' faith. Kinski also wondered if he was the reincarnation of Paganini, arguably the most proficient techniqual violinist of all time, and, of course, an intense womanizer. Kinski did not spend much time doubting his sanity, it seems he considered it a rather futile endeavor in a world where it was self evident that everybody was mad. However, neither did he glamorize lunacy as a standard, there is nothing romantically sophomoric in his descriptions of being held in an insane assylum for a couple of weeks. It's more vivid and horrific than his description of being held in a POW camp for years. He made certain he would not be be incarcerated for alleged (?) madness again, just as-- despite his extravagant lifestyle--he also made certain he would not suffer starvation again, as he did in his childhood. For all actors or artists one plain piece of advice: Get this book. Despite exaggerations (or downrigth lies) this is a superb testimony by one of the greatest of all time.
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DVD ~ Klaus Kinski
by Werner Herzog
DVD ~ Klaus Kinski
DVD ~ Klaus Kinski
