Paganini (1990)

Thanks for the memories!

Best movie ever!

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Kinski was surely an really outstanding performer. In this film it is only one thing which bothers me a little bit: Why is he plying the violin with the right hand? And you see some scenes with the hands of Accardo who as one of the greatest violin player and Paganini interpreter plays the Paganini scores, the hand you see is the usual left one. I cannot believe that Kinski made a mistake but still i do not get his message. The pictures in the film are overwhelming and you will really understand what is the effect of Paganini's music - and not only for women. The language of this pictures explain in subtly manner the eroticism of the Violin and especially of Paganin's music. The film is a must for all lovers of classical violin music.

I watched Paganini for the first time, then ran to watch bits of Fitzcarraldo again. I just realized why: It was the armchair cineaste's equivalent of taking a shower to rinse the muck off after watching Paganini.I needed to watch Fitzcarraldo to remind myself that, yes, Kinski was a great actor. And he was.I never thought I'd actually find a genuine-article case of this, but in Paganini you have Kinski finally using film--and his fans--as a full-tilt surrogate for his fading fantasy that he's the rooster in the barnyard.It really is shameless. People thought that Woody Allen used film like this way long after he shoulda. Well, guess what? Allen is a piker.If you're curious to see a great film star at his lowest ebb in this particular regard, watch Paganini.Now, people in these comments extol the natural lighting, Kinski's raw magnetism, the unstudied editing, the artful inattention to technique in general, genuinely moving scenes of familial love, etc., etc. Yes, all those things are arguably there. I'm not just being conciliatory for rhetorical effect. But there comes a time when you have to admit the evidence of what you're seeing before your very eyes, and the conclusion is inescapable: Kinski is jerking off at our expense. He's not just exercising an eccentric degree of artistic license. He's lost in unfiltered, unsublimated sexual self-aggrandizement.

The tagline is not referring to the (too) many flairs in this film. This is not a film, but a myriad. Not unlike Tarkovsky's 'Mirror', the storyline is labyrinthic. In 'Paganini' we are plunged into the flow of life as seen just before dying, and within the flashbacks there are memories.Son Achille, superbly played by son Nikolai Kinksi (without any hint of the lingual barriers that he must have experienced while shooting this demanding role; check out his role in 'Tortilla Soup', the Ang Lee goes Latin comedy where he plays very nicely a ... Brazilian.) watches the struggle of his father, adding his own reminiscence to the story.Fragmented though it may be, this is a romantic tale, grand & tragic, told with passion and devotion. It took Klaus Kinski 20 years to create his heart's desire. So, I reckon, there are not many "mistakes", "loose ends", "murkiness" or "shabby editing" here. My guess is that all we see is well thought of (referring to the 'version originale' of Kinski himself, as to be seen on the German double disc DVD -with Italian, English & German dubs-, which shows besides loads of exciting extras both the Maestro's version as the producer's vulgarity). It is too easy to criticize. Who understood 'The Mirror' after a few viewings only ?Kinski of course is no Tarkovsky. He is Maestro Klaus, and very probable the reincarnation of Paganini. But his Magnus Epos is not just an homage. It is even more than his life quest. Although Papa Klaus is omnipresent & inescapable, the torch is held by his son. Which makes KK a link between past & future. And that is truly amazing. Mr. Kinski, miracle-man.PS:The story within the story of this story has not finished yet. Maybe one day someone close to the heart and mind of Klaus Kinski will dare and cut a 2hour-version of 'Paganini'. Maybe Mr. Nikolai ?

In this movie, Kinski gives his last great performance as the 19th century italian violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini. People even say that Kinski is his reincarnation. At least, what we can say is that Kinski adopted the violin player's lifestyle. Paganini, in his time, was considered the first "rock star" even though rock wasn't even invented yet because he lived a life saturated with late parties, orgies and sexcapades of all kinds. No moral law, Carpe Diem all the way! Kinski was working on this project since the early 1970s. It was his little baby. And even though its narration is without any narration, with no genuinelike biographical anecdotes, its incoherent editing illustrates with wit, passion and violence what the murky worlds of Paganini and Kinski were all about. But beware, sensible people should pass this one.