Nostalgia Kinky: Celebrating the Career of Nastassja Kinski

Nastassja Kinski Rare Scans

2011-06-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks very much to my friend (and fellow Kinski fan) Selma for supplying me with these incredibly rare scans!

Kinski in Black and White: With Polanski at the Tess Premiere (Press Photo)

2011-03-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Nastassja Kinski: Some Turkish Poster Designs

2011-03-28T17:20:00.001-07:00

Kinski in Color

2011-03-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

Stay as You Are Screenshots Project Part 5

2011-03-02T03:52:00.001-08:00

Kinski in Color

2011-03-02T03:42:00.001-08:00

Kinski in Color

2011-02-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Kinski in Color

2011-02-11T08:00:00.001-08:00

Kinski in Black and White

2011-02-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

Kinski: One from the Heart Lobby Cards and Slide

2011-02-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

Kinski in Color: Vintage Seventies Slide

2011-02-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

Kinski in Color

2011-02-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Kinski in Black and White

2011-02-04T19:04:00.001-08:00

Nastassja Kinski Lobby Cards (Torrents of Spring)

2011-02-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

Rare Kinski Scans: Another Fangoria Report on Cat People

2011-01-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

From Issue 14

Nastassja Kinski: Exposed (Black and White Lobby Card)

2011-01-19T16:52:00.001-08:00

Nastassja Kinski: One From the Heart Promo Slide and Japanese Pin-Up

2011-01-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

Nastassja Kinski Posters Designs: Revolution (French)

2011-01-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Nastassja Kinski Poster Designs: Maria's Lovers (Nordic)

2011-01-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

Nastassja Kinski: Two Promo Slides and a Chinese Playing Card

2011-01-03T17:17:00.001-08:00

Kinski: Two 1981 Calendar Pages

2010-12-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

A Rare Passion Flower Hotel Slide

2010-12-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

A Rare Interview with Nastassja

2010-12-14T04:52:00.000-08:00

Writer David Speranza was recently kind enough to contact me to let me know about an interview he did with Nastassja back in 1995. A version of this interview originally appeared in Velvet Magazine but, thanks to David, I am able to share the link to the original here. David has also kindly given me permission to share these two super rare Polaroids that he took of Nastassja that day. It's a fascinating interview with Nastassja, brief but one of the best I have ever read, and I know everyone will enjoy reading it. Thanks to David for sharing the link and the photos!

Kinski in Color: More Japanese Pin-Ups

2010-12-01T03:47:00.001-08:00

Kinski in Black and White: Lobby Cards from The Moon In The Gutter

2010-11-27T05:49:00.001-08:00

Kinski in Color: Promo Stills from The Moon in the Gutter

2010-11-27T05:43:00.001-08:00

Kinski in Black and White

2010-11-10T03:52:00.000-08:00

Kinski on the Cover

2010-11-10T03:51:00.001-08:00

Rare Kinski Scans: More Japanese Pinups

2010-11-10T03:44:00.000-08:00

Kinski on the Cover

2010-11-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

Rare Kinski Scans: 3 Turkish Pin-Ups

2010-11-05T04:15:00.001-07:00

Kinski Lobby Cards: Revolution

2010-11-04T04:20:00.001-07:00

Paris, Texas: The Comic???

2010-11-03T03:50:00.000-07:00

Here's quite an oddity that has recently popped up on eBay. Anyone here have a copy of this Spanish Comic adaptation of Paris, Texas that was published back in 1990?

Kinski and Coppola on the set of One From the Heart

2010-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Rare Kinski Scans: Fangoria Cat People Notice

2010-10-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Passion Flower Hotel: Japanese Mini Poster and Lobby Cards

2010-10-26T03:37:00.001-07:00

Kinski in Color

2010-10-23T05:43:00.000-07:00

Nastassja Kinski: Stay as You Are Color Promo Pics

2010-10-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

Rare Nastassja Kinski Scans: Five Japanese Pinups

2010-10-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

Rare Kinski Scans: Japanese Clipping with Paco

2010-10-17T14:50:00.001-07:00

Nastassja Kinski Lobby Cards: Unfaithfully Yours

2010-10-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Rare Kinski Scans: Early Eighties European Trading Card

2010-10-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Kinski Soundtracks: Tess Japanese 45

2010-10-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

Kinski on the Cover

2010-10-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

The Return of Nostalgia Kinky: Kinski in Color

2010-10-13T18:25:00.001-07:00

My apologies for the very long and extended break but I am going to try and get Nostalgia Kinky up and running again. Thanks for the folks who have stuck with me during this very long hiatus.

Paris, Texas Now Out on Criterion

2010-01-28T04:08:00.001-08:00

I couldn't let the week slip by without mentioning that Wim Wender's astounding 1984 film Paris, Texas has just been released as part of the prestigious Criterion Collection. This set has been greatly anticipated by a lot of folks, myself included, who consider Wender's film among the best ever made and I am thrilled that it is finally out. The two-disc set contains everything from a great commentary track from Wenders to appreciations from filmmaking fans like Allison Anders and Claire Denis. It also contains a documentary, deleted scenes and a written contribution from Nastassja Kinski, who delivers one of my all-time favorite performances in the film. I highly recommend the set, which can be ordered from Amazon here.

The Hotel New Hampshire Revisited

2009-11-08T06:17:00.000-08:00

Even though he was nearing sixty years old when he shot his adaptation of John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire in the fall of 1983, Tony Richardson was still artistically at the top of his game with seemingly all of the energy in the world at his disposal. That Richardson had intended to make two films, instead of just the one, from Irving's material shows even clearer that this was a director truly firing on all cylinders in the last period of his remarkable career.
The British born Oscar winning Richardson is unquestionably one of the most important filmmakers who came out of the fifties. His finest works, including the likes of Look Back in Anger (1958), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Tom Jones (1963), The Loved One (1963), and a brave production of Hamlet (1969) show Richardson as a man of great intelligence and seemingly unending talent.
Starting with Ned Kelly in 1970, Richardson's productions seemed to lose their favor with the critical community that had embraced him in the sixties. This says more about the critics than Richardson though as films like A Delicate Balance (1973), Joseph Andrews (1977) and The Border (1982) are all really fascinating and valuable works. Often cited for his visual style, Richardson is not given enough credit for the performances he is able to bring out of his actors, and yet that is something that is apparent in all of his films. Watch, for example, the subtle and restrained work that Richardson draws out of a post The Shining Jack Nicholson in The Border to see this.

After the muted reception granted to The Border, Richardson began planning his double film adaption of one of Irving's most complex works. The Hotel New Hampshire, with its complex story lines, large cast of characters and near epic feel, was thought to be un-adaptable but Irving himself praised Richardson's original scripts as brilliant. Irving spoke in an interview about his admiration for Richardson and his excitement about the film with, "I've never felt as flattered as when Tony Richardson told me he wanted to make a movie of The Hotel New Hampshire, my fifth novel. I loved Tony Richardson's films. He had a range like no one else-- violent or austere one minute, wildly comic the next. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and The Loved One, Tom Jones and The Border. I had no doubt what Tony Richardson would do with The Hotel New Hampshire--a macabre comedy and a fairy tale, not half as realistic as The World According to Garp. Tony didn't even pretend to be disappointed when I told him I didn't want to write the screenplay; he wanted to write it himself, which he did."

Unfortunately the studio finally balked at the two picture concept and forced Richardson to make just one film. Refusing to lose too much of Irving's witty original, Richardson created a final 110 minute work that is simultaneously brilliant, flawed, frustrating and inspiring. Had he been allowed to do what he originally planned, I believe the two part The Hotel New Hampshire would have been one of Tony Richardson's great works. As it is, it is one of his most imperfect but still overwhelmingly passionate films.

The Hotel New Hampshire, a work centered on the very dysfunctional Berry family, features one of the greatest ensemble casts of the eighties. The core of the film belongs to a really wonderful Jodie Foster as the brilliant but troubled Frannie Berry, a handsome (and I think quite good) Rob Lowe as her brother John, and Beau Bridges as their ambitious dreamer of a father, Win. Also as part of the family are Paul McCrane, Lisa Banes, Jennifer Dundas and a young Seth Green. Throughout the film we meet a large variety of supporting players including most notably Wallace Shawn as a Mr. Freud and Nastassja Kinski as the paralyzingly insecure Susie The Bear.

Working with talented cinematographer David Watkin, Tony Richardson made the epic feeling The Hotel New Hampshire on a relatively small budget in Canada in that chilly fall of 1983. Things seemed troubled from the start as Richardson not only had to deal with merging two films into one, but he was also forced into shooting in some locations he didn't intend to use. On top of those setbacks, he lost the corporation of the band he wanted to score part of the film, namely Queen (Whose "Keep Passing the Open Windows" was to play a key role in the film).

Everything seemed to work against Richardson, his crew and cast but they all persevered on. Many bonds were formed, including a close friendship between Jodie Foster and Nastassja Kinski, and some were broken but Richardson delivered his film on time, and it was set to go in the early part of 1984.

The Hotel New Hampshire is a slightly off putting film at first, as such it demands reviewing to truly fall under its spell. Certainly some of the subject matter, from rape to incest, is tricky to handle at best, but Richardson's film by design becomes more and more defined the more you watch it. With this in mind, it is easy to see why so many critics savaged it back in 1984 when it hit theaters.

The film is an absolute beauty to look at. Watkin's lovely photography is consistent throughout, and I can't imagine too many people having problems with that aspect of it. The much missed Kent born cinematographer David Watkin is among the most important directors of photography in British Cinema history. He has lensed an astonishing number of wildly diverse and legendary films such as Help, The Knack...and How to Get It, The Devils and Out of Africa. Born in 1925, the Oscar winning Watkin initially got his start working as a cameraman in many British documentaries and commercials. A fateful meeting with director Richard Lester would change everything for him and he was hired for Lester's wonderful The Knack...and How to Get It.

Noted for his innovative work with lighting, Watkin always demonstrated that he can shoot any kind of film in seemingly any kind of condition. Chief among my his finest films that he shot are Ken Russell's The Devils and The Boy Friend. The Boy Friend stands as one of the great examples of how well Watkin can use color while The Devils is perhaps one of the ultimate examples of how light should be used in a film.

The Hotel New Hampshire marked the second time that Watkin had shot Nasatassja Kinski, with the first being 1976's To The Devil a Daughter. Watkin's work on To the Devil a Daughter is quite striking and among its most obvious highlights. Much like Robby Muller he seems to have an inherent understanding of how much power Kinski's face could project, and he photographs her wonderfully in both To the Devil a Daughter and The Hotel New Hampshire.

Watkin's work on Tony Richardson's The Hotel New Hampshire features some of the lushest and purest photography of his life. Speaking from a total layman's point of view when it comes to the art of photography, there is just something really warm about his work with Richardson. Kinski's Susie The Bear is one of her great roles and she is photographed wonderfully in the film, with Watkin's understated style helping to bring out all of the vulnerability, doubt and finally emerging self confidence that Kinski projects.

Watkin would go onto to shoot many films throughout the late eighties and nineties but unfortunately he never worked with Kinski or Richardson again. He shot some lovely underrated films in the nineties including Jane Eyre but he will undoubtedly be most remembered for his work in the sixties and seventies with directors like Lester and Russell. His last film according to IMDB was the little seen Kirsten Dunst feature, All Forgotten. Ironic title for his final film considering the term 'forgotten' will never be used in describing the incredible career of David Watkin.

Back to The Hotel New Hampshire, Richardson's direction has been called erratic here, but I think it is more a case of him embracing once again all of the power and invention that so defined his greatest years in the sixties. Like a free-form jazz musician playing with time signatures and bending notes into something near alien, Richardson's direction of The Hotel New Hampshire is fresh, inventive, purposely sloppy at times, and never dull. It is the penultimate, near great, theatrical work by a very talented filmmaker, and it didn't deserve the savaging it got back in 1984.

The cast of The Hotel New Hampshire is indeed quite extraordinary. Jodie Foster was at a weird transition point in her career but you can already see her developing into America's best actress. She is saucy, sad, funny, and very human in the part of Frannie. I like Rob Lowe a lot here too. He is forced to play kind of the calm at the center of a very electric storm, and his work is very centered and very solid. The likes of Beau Bridges, Wallace Shawn, Matthew Modine, and Anita Morris seem incapable of giving weak performances and that is no different here, as they are all splendid.

The casting of Kinski in the role of Susie The Bear was much talked about, and it remains the most controversial of the film. In the book, the character was short, homely, and dirty. It was easy to see why she would be so insecure as to wear a bear suit to disguise her ugliness...but Nastassja Kinski? Why would Tony Richardson cast one of the most beautiful women in cinematic history in this part?

What could be more devastatingly sad and tragic, than an unquestionably beautiful person so wrapped up with inner turmoil, self doubt and insecurities that she literally hides herself from the world behind a mask? Richardson had the idea that someone who was completely wrong about themselves would be much more effective than someone who was right. Susie The Bear in Richardson's film doesn't hide herself because she is ugly, she hides herself because she thinks she is ugly. There is a big, and profound, difference there. Kinski is asked to do the impossible here, namely to make you believe that she thinks she is so hideous that she should hide inside a bear costume. Kinski delivers on this completely, and gives the most fragile but cutting work of her career. The role had a big impact on Kinski and she would tell The Washington Post that, "...it touched something deep...What is reality and what Susie sees about herself are two different things. Something melts inside Susie so she can take off the bear suit. This happened to me. There is a beauty about myself that I never saw, or I rejected, until recently."

The film had few supporters at the studio but John Irving admitted that, "I liked the movie nonetheless. Tony's interpretation of the novel as sexual cancan is a much more suitable translation of my sense of humor than Steve Tesich's dialogue in The World According to Garp. But, to most audiences, The Hotel New Hampshire was not nearly as successful a film as Garp. Only in some countries in Europe was it more popular, which may have been the result of Hotel being more popular in parts of Europe as a book, too--I mean more popular than Garp."

Many critics had there knives sharpened and out for Richardson and his young cast. Frankly the little respect I had left for critics like Vincent Canby and Rex Reed has vanished completely after reading their incredible rude and sexist comments concerning Jodie Foster's appearance in The Hotel New Hampshire. Canby wrote, "she had better watch those malteds between classes at Yale" while Rex Reed added, "Foster is pasty, pudgy and too asexual to attract gnats". Way to review the film at hand you self absorbed twits.

The film's mixed reception saw mild praise coming from the likes of Shelia Benson, Richard Combs and John Coleman and absolute hatred from the likes of David Denby and Andrew Sarris, who wrote in The Village Voice: ""A funny thing happened on my way to reviewing The Hotel New Hampshire, I encountered some people who actually liked it! Why would, how could, anyone enjoy this botched mess, this shambles of a movie? Kinski, for once pleasantly at home in a wildly disorganized circus in which she does not have to labor in vain to make sense as a character...I would have had serious problems with The Hotel New Hampshire even if it had been a better movie...the wrong reasons for liking it (are) cultural snobbery, generational complacency, moral flabbiness, and the nihilism of convenience."

The Hotel New Hampshire opened up in the spring of 84 and disappeared soon after. The film is currently available on a sharp looking Widescreen DVD, with only the trailer as an extra. It is a rewarding if, at times, gloriously frustrating experience that gets better and better with each viewing. The great Tony Richardson would complete just one more theatrical picture in his life, the Jessica Lange film Blue Sky, before passing away in the early nineties. While The Hotel New Hampshire isn't one of his greatest films, it is one of his most heartfelt and inventive. It occupies its own very special place in Richardson's important filmography...needless to say, it deserves another look.

The Moon in the Gutter is Now Out on Region 1 DVD

2009-10-20T04:01:00.000-07:00

The Moon in the Gutter has finally hit DVD here in the States. Here is a link regarding the new disc.

Rare To The Devil a Daughter Article

2009-07-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

Click on each to read in large resolution.

From Dark Terrors, Issue 1

Tess Revisited

2009-06-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

Sharon Tate loved Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the Dubervilles dearly, and related to Hardy’s doomed heroine in an extremely personal way. Shortly before her horrific murder in 1969, Sharon gave her husband, famed director Roman Polanski, a copy of the novel in the hopes that he would film it one day. Ten years after she was the victim of one of the most brutal and senseless crimes of the century, Polanski (who was in the shadow of yet another personal tragedy) released his version of the work his beloved late wife had felt so completely connected to. He would indeed set the mood of the entire film just after the opening credits with the stirring and sweet, "To Sharon", and Tess remains one of the most personal works from one of the world’s great directors.

Polanski had kept Thomas Hardy's influential and important book with him throughout the seventies. After Tate's murder he knew that he had to film the novel in tribute to her memory and spirit, but the trick was finding an actress that would be able to portray the difficult and heartbreaking role of Hardy's most iconic character with the grace and passion it called for.

Polanski first caught a look at young Nastassja Kinski in the mid seventies and befriended her and her mother. Throughout the seventies he was Kinski's mentor, friend and among the most influential people in her life. Tess actually wouldn’t be their first collaboration, as they had shot an intriguing pirate themed photo shoot for Vogue magazine in 1976 that would help set Kinski’s career in motion. The photos from the session would be among the best taken of the young Kinski and would foreshadow one of Polanski's dream projects, the ill-fated Pirates that he would eventually film in 1985.

Nastassja, or Nastassia as she was known in this period, had appeared in almost half a dozen films before Tess and had already made international waves with her work in Hammer’s To The Devil a Daughter and in the extremely interesting Stay as You Are. There is no question that Tess was Kinski’s big break though and she knew it. She also knew that in accepting the part she would be fulfilling a very personal vision for Polanski. The young German actress knew that Polanski, “had wanted to do it with his wife”, and that indeed in many ways, “Sharon was Tess (and) she was always there, anyway, with him." It was a big challenge for the young actress, who had already spent her life in the shadow of her legendary father Klaus, but Kinski was up for it and she spent an exhausting but dedicated two years preparing for the part. Kinski said of the prep time, “Roman came along and gave me Tess, it was like…it gave me such dignity, you know what I mean? He would be very strict with me and send me to school. And then when we did the movie he said, ‘I really want you to do this for me, because I wanted to do it for my wife and it means so much to me. But the only way you can do the film is to show you’ll learn the accent, So I’m going to send you to England for four, five, six months and when you come back we’ll do the test.’ He gave me a lot of respect. It was all very serious. He was a very severe person, in the best sense.” By the time the cameras began rolling, Nastassia Kinski had become Tess and it remains one of the key roles in her career.

Filmed on location in France throughout a nine-month period just after his masterfully intense and terrifying The Tenant, Polanksi's Tess is his most delicate and hauntingly beautiful work. It is also his most human work and, even though Polanski is still someone recognized as a master of thrillers and the macabre, he brings an incredibly warm and decent aura to Hardy’s monumental novel. Kinski fell into the difficult role with a remarkable grace. She later said, “I’ve always dreamed of being a person like her. She’s not spoiled by the society she moves through. She still stays untouched. She goes through everything for love.” The entire project can indeed be viewed as a work of love, told by a director who by all accounts should have been totally shattered personally and professionally by 1979.

Everything about Tess works, from the remarkably precise pace that never drags in its three hour running time, to the majestic score by Philippe Sarde that manages to place the viewer firmly inside the spirit of Hardy’s unforgettable heroine. Anthony Powell's costume design and the art direction of Jack Stephens are both astonishing attentive in their detail, and the look of the film is perfectly realized even though the cast and crew suffered a major shock when beloved cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth died halfway through production, leaving Ghislain Cloquet to step in and do the near impossible task of finishing the film. Watching Tess is like watching an extremely complicated machine with hundreds of tiny parts that are working perfectly to compliment the other and, throughout it's mammoth running time, the complex machine never once slips.

Sarde’s aforementioned score has perhaps never gotten all the attention it deserves. After the success of their collaboration on The Tenant, Polanski asked Sarde to score Tess and it would turn out to be perhaps the finest soundtrack from the famed composer. Sarde's Oscar nominated score is a moving and at times sweeping work that stands very much apart from a typical period piece soundtrack. There is something remarkably fresh and modern sounding about the work, but it never feels out of place with Polanski's images from the past.

While the behind the scenes players all could constitute great stories themselves, it is the story on screen that remains the most endearing aspect of Tess. For those who might not be familiar with Hardy’s book or any of the filmed adaptations, Tess tells the story of the young Tess Durbeyfield whose drunken father finds out that their poverty stricken family is actually descended from the wealthy and proper D'Urbervilles. Tess is sent to claim kin to, what is thought, to be among the other final remaining D'Ubervilles, and her life after is systematically and tragically torn apart by virtually every man she meets, and the society that she was unfortunate enough to have been born in.

At the core of Tess are the ideas of fate and destiny. A particularly long shot early in the film of Kinski wandering down a seemingly endless path points to the film’s key preoccupations. The beautifully rendered shot is one of the most impressive and ominous in all of Polanski's awe-inspiring canon and there isn't any question, for Tess or the audience, that she is walking into another world and there won't be any turning back. Throughout the film's running time we are continually presented with the idea that Tess is being led by some sort of unspoken destiny, and that no matter how hard she fights it there is finally not going to be an escape for her.

Tess is also one of the most masterful films ever made in dealing with the problems of class. One of the great qualities of the screenplay, credited to Polanski, Gerard Brach and John Brownjohn, is that our leading character is ultimately somebody who doesn't care about position, only respect. Everyone around Tess on the other hand is very much obsessed by his or her position. Her family is jealous of the higher-ups and want nothing more than to be among them, no matter if it costs them their daughter. The higher-ups in the film are all portrayed as cold and obsessed with their status, and how much it means to be able to have their way over the lower classes that surround them. Tess is caught in the middle of this struggle, but as a character all she wants is to love and be loved. Tess is the one truly honorable character in the film, and she is the one character who is constantly getting run over by the harsh system her life has been destined to.

Along with the question of class that is repeatedly brought up, Tess also centers on the treatment of women in society as something less than even second rate. Almost without exception, every villain in Tess is a man, and Polanski shows us a harsh world where it isn't just that women are looked down upon, but there isn't even the slightest hint that the men in it have any feeling for them, other than how they make them feel as men. Peter Firth's Angel is the darkest character in the film mainly because he claims goodness and caring, but even towards the end when he takes Tess back we are still given the feeling that his act is ultimately a selfish one. Angel, like every other man in the film, ultimately can't understand what Tess means when she explains, "What all women say, some may feel." The only person who says exactly what she feels, and who genuinely loves in this film, is Tess herself. The role would prove life altering for Kinski who said of it, “I’ve changed so much with this part…Tess is such a rich complex character…you find yourself taking on her patience and strength and courage…I’ve always dreamed of being a person like her.” Kinski also recognized how much of Polanski himself could be found in the film, “Roman is a true poet. He is very cruel sometimes too. He just wants the inner part of you. He is every character in the movie. He is Tess and Angel and the countryside and everything.” She summed up the film with, “Tess is about the evilness of a mass people. It is the story of how laws and society can only destroy the purest people, how the truest and purest are trapped by the spiders…Tess is much deeper than revenge. She is always the same, knowing she would die again and again for the same thing.” She finally admitted that, “Tess was my first real confrontation with myself, my own thoughts and feelings…the book (and film) became like a drug to me.”

Nowhere in the film are these issues of class, confrontation, and the split between men and women more noticeable than in the gut wrenching sequence where Tess takes her dead child to the town's priest asking for a church burial. After explaining that she had baptized the baby by herself, and having the priest tell her that she was right in the eyes of God, she is still turned away from the church because the father is afraid of the town's reaction. Here Polanski presents us with a so-called holy man who cowers more towards the very man made rules of class and sexism rather than the wishes of the God he proclaims to serve. Kinski is stunning in this sequence and Polanksi's unnerving closeup of her face is among the greatest moments in either one of their careers.

Tess is also very much a film about nature and our relation to it, specifically how Tess remains part of her God made surroundings while society slips further away. Kinski is often photographed as not only a character on a landscape but as essentially belonging to it. It is no coincidence that the first close up of her in the film is a shot of her in front of a sunset. The rising and setting sun will play a part throughout the film and it is almost always shot with Kinski somewhere in the frame. There is something almost mystical about Tess in these moments, and whether she is speaking about laying in the grass and transporting herself to the sky to a table full of confused onlookers, or having a wild deer approach her in the words, Tess is very much in tune with the world that the men around her are only looking to pillage. Of course one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the film is that, much like the land that the men will ultimately destroy, Tess is equally savaged and finally left very much behind to pay for the men’s crimes against nature and humanity.

Polanski's direction of the film is flawless. This doesn't feel like a film about the past, this feels like a film actually filmed in this past. Tess is filled with some of the most beautifully composed shots of his career, from the close ups of Kinski whistling to a group of caged birds, to her staring through a window (both of which recall Sharon Tate in The Fearless Vampire Killers) to the final shots of the vast and foggy landscape surrounding Kinski as she sleeps atop Stonehenge. Tess might not be the greatest film Polanski ever made, but it is without question the most beautiful.

Despite all of the great people that worked so tirelessly behind the scenes on Tess, the film would not have worked without Nastassja Kinski. She is magnificent throughout the film and gives an explosively humble performance that infuses the character with a dignity that very few actresses could have even begun to approach. As promising as she was in her first five films, through Polanski's lens Kinski comes alive and carries Tess through from beginning to end in an endearing performance that is refreshing, tragic and ultimately heartbreaking. Kinski would herself call the Golden Globe winning performance, “the best thing I’ve ever done, not in terms of performance maybe, but the purest and the most beautiful thing.”

Tess was a film that nobody thought had a chance, and yet when it came out it was one of the most acclaimed and talked about works of Roman Polanski's career. Nominated for six Academy Awards (including picture and director) and winner of three, Tess was a smashing success. Despite the Golden Globe, Kinski was shamefully ignored at the Oscars, one of the great oversights in the Academy’s history.

Critical reactions were almost universally unanimous in their praise. Many not surprisingly focused on Kinski’s performance. John Coleman would write in The New Statesman, “In her first starring role Nastassia Kinski, whose occasional resemblance to the young Ingrid Bergman is startling, does more than might be expected of her: even the West Country accent works a lot of the time...she is far more than a pretty face.", while Tom Milne in the Monthly Film Bulletin would sum it up succulently with, "Kinski (was very much) the right raw material for Hardy's Tess."

Some critics would question Kinski’s accent in the film, while others had problems with her youth and German heritage. It is a tribute to Polanski’s film that repeated viewings bring out the richness of Kinski’s performance in extremely poignant ways. David Denby partially changed his mind about Kinski’s work in the film after re-watching it. Whereas originally he wrote in the pages of New York magazine, "The principal problem with the movie is its star, Nastassia Kinski is a slender, beautiful girl who bears a startling facial resemblance to Ingrid Bergman, unfortunately reminding us how well Bergman would have played a doomed romantic heroine like Tess. In Brief Kinski doesn't have the range for it.”, he would later state, “"The beauty of Nastassia Kinski in Roman Polanski's Tess is so great that, at times, simply gazing upon her loveliness satisfies a moviegoers every longing. Polanski has clearly taught her a great deal...Kinski is like a young aristocrat in an 18th century painting...at the same time, her dark eyes and full, ripe lips (the lower protrudes, just slightly, in a suggestion of sensual hunger) are the features of a passionately alive woman, not a noble idea....Polanski uses her very shrewdly...her confusion is exquisite.”

Perhaps more than anything else, the critical reaction to Kinski in Tess highlights the problem that would haunt her throughout the rest of her career, namely that critics and the public couldn’t get past her beauty no matter how good she was. How ironic that many of the harmful attitudes present in Tess towards women would remain in effect in 1979, and as well in 2009.

The film made its debut on VHS in the mid eighties in a full screen transfer and, outside of a Japanese widescreen disc, this was the only way to see it for two decades. Thankfully it finally got its due several years in a gorgeous widescreen special edition dvd that features an engrossing ninety minute documentary on the making of the film.

Tess is one of Roman Polanski’s key films and one of the great cinematic meditations on fate, destiny, class struggle, sexism and redemption ever shot. The teaming of Polanski and Kinski was one of the great partnerships in modern film and while it is regrettable that they have never worked together again, perhaps it is right as they would have been hard pressed to top Tess.

Tess, outside of being one of the most powerful and moving films in modern cinema, stands as a great tribute to the still much missed Sharon Tate. For those who are aware of the film and Polanski’s history, it is hard to watch Tess today without occasionally flashing on those oh so haunting home movies the staggeringly beautiful Tate looking so unbelievably happy with what should have been a wonderful life still in front of her…the work of Polanski, Kinski, Sarde and everyone involved with Tess begins with these images of Sharon Tate, and the film remains a breathtaking and haunting tribute to her.

***This piece was cobbled together from several that I wrote a couple of years ago for Nostalgia Kinky. Please excuse its choppiness.***

One Night Stand Lobby Cards, Poster Designs and DVD Covers

2009-06-03T07:21:00.001-07:00

Nastassja on eBay

2009-06-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Nastassja on Film 1996-1997

2009-06-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Around the time of her stirring comeback in Mike Figgis' 1997 production One Night Stand, Nastassja appeared in a handful of films in mostly smaller roles. As none of these works are among her stronger work, I thought I would group the lesser of them together in this post.

Somebody is Waiting (1996): An extremely flawed if well meaning production from first time director Martin Donovan has Nastassja billed second to star Gabriel Byrne, but her role is smaller than might be expected. Donovan, best known for his terrific work with Hal Hartley, is a wonderful actor but his direction is a bit limp in this film. Nastassja is fine considering the material, and the film is worth a look although it is far from being a successful production.

Father's Day (1997): Ivan Reitman has made some truly wonderful films in his career, including the classic Stripes, but this comedy starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams is just dreadful. Nastassja is all but wasted, as is the rest of the talented cast, in this extremely lame and unfunny family comedy that was a big disappointment when it hit and disappeared from theaters in the early part of 97. Everyone really deserved better...

Little Boy Blue (1997): An interesting film and the best, outside of One Night Stand, from 97. A full post will be coming on this work in the near future.

Bella Mafia (1997): A so-so high profile television film that is blessed with a truly extraordinary cast including Nastassja, Vanessa Redgrave and Jennifer Tilly. It's fine for what it is but it hardly invites a second viewing and it finally just feels like 'gangster-lite'.

Revolution Finally Hits DVD

2009-06-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of Nastassja's most controversial productions is finally available on Region 1 DVD in a special edition. Revolution Revisited is the new cut of Hugh Hudson's epic film starring Nastassja and Al Pacino and it is available now. The disc doesn't include Nastassja in the extras but a talk with Pacino and Hudson is featured on the disc. A full report on the disc with screenshots is coming soon.

Passion Flower Hotel Mexican Soundtrack Scans

2009-04-14T16:10:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a very kind reader who recently sent me these wonderful scans.

To The Devil A Daughter (Alternate Poster Design)

2009-04-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Torrents of Spring Alternate Poster Designs

2009-04-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

Poll Results

2009-03-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who voted in these two polls. Here are the results:

What Are Your Favorite Nastassja Kinski Films (1975-1980)?

Wrong Move 48 Votes (35%)

To The Devil A Daughter 48 Votes (35%)

For Your Love Only 41 Votes (29%)

Passion Flower Hotel 44 Votes (32%)

Stay As You Are 66 Votes (48%)

Tess 90 Votes (65%)

What Are Your Favorite Nastassja Films (1980-1984)

One From The Heart 54 Votes (37%)

Cat People 88 Votes (60%)

Spring Symphony 34 Votes (23%)

Exposed 48 Votes (33%)

Moon In The Gutter 44 Votes (30%)

Unfaithfully Yours 44 Votes (30%)

The Hotel New Hampshire 46 Votes (31%)

Maria's Lovers 58 Votes (40%)

Paris, Texas 85 Votes (58%)

Exposed Revisited

2009-02-11T07:21:00.001-08:00

James Toback’s 1983 film Exposed is, in its first hour at least, one of the great English language films of the eighties. It is so close to being a major masterpiece that its second half failures are still particularly stinging. Final act flaws aside, Exposed is an incredibly inventive film by one of America's most complicated directors, and it features one of the great performances of Nastassja Kinski's career.

Writer and director James Toback is an interesting guy. He has hardly been prolific, shooting less than ten features in a thirty plus year period, but he is one of the few American filmmakers who can claim to have at least one truly great film in the seventies (1978's Fingers), the eighties (Exposed), the nineties (1997's Two Girls and a Guy) and finally this decade (2004's When Will I Be Loved). Toback's films are demanding, frustrating and finally rewarding, but it is ultimately the performances he manages to bring out of his actors that is perhaps the most noteworthy thing about him.

Exposed opens up with a startling tracking shot of Paris set to to the haunting strains of Georges Delerue's unforgettable score. This languid shot quickly closes into none other than New Wave icon Pierre Clementi mysteriously walking through the streets of Paris. Toback then switches his camera's obsessive eye to a pretty blonde entering a restaurant, planting a bomb and quickly leaving just before the building explodes. It's a shot people in 1983 would remember from the then recent Nighthawks (1981), but more in tune viewers would have also thought of Gillo Pontecorvo's astonishing 1966 feature, Battle of Algiers. Indeed Toback's decision to switch slowly from a vivid color scheme to black and white over the destroyed restaurant seems to be a very deliberate nod to not only his idol Jean-Luc Godard, but also the heated political films of directors like Pontecorvo and Bellochio.

After this very mysterious and indeed explosive opening we are then taken to a Midwestern American college where Toback himself is teaching a class. He is speaking of Goethe and lamenting on how the "Western world is falling apart." It is here that we get our first look at the troubled and lonely Elizabeth Carlson listening intently, even while looking completely disconnected.
Kinski's first full scene as Elizabeth is a real stunner. We find her packing in her room listening to fifties rock music (which recalls Harvey Keitel's lost and angry soul in Fingers) and arguing with Toback's brutish, pig like professor. Surrounded by photographs and posters (including Garbo in Camille) this is a Nastassja Kinski we hadn't seen on screen before. She oozes tension and frustration and at one point screams "I feel like a caged animal" (the first of many moments when the film seems as much about Kinski's professional and personal life as anything else). Kinski is incredible in this very natural and raw scene and its improvised nature sets the tone for the startling first half of Exposed.

Exposed is very much a film about escape and throughout the first half we watch as Kinski escapes from one level of heartbreak to another. From school she escapes to her parents house (Where we hear Kinski chillingly speak of her destructive father and how she inherited her "restlessness from him.") and from there she escapes to New York. It is interesting to note that almost all of Kinski's escapes in the film are from men. First from the cruel leanings of her professor, then from her judgemental father, to finally from the gaze of millions of men staring longingly at her photograph. If the film's final heartbreaking shot does have one positive aspect it is that she is no longer a woman escaping from a man, but simply from herself.
Continuing our journey with Elizabeth, she is immediately mugged upon arriving in New York and she loses all of her money. It is another scene that feels remarkably unscripted and natural, and Toback's vision of New York is an incredibly vivid snap shot of the town. The city is indeed one of the films biggest assets and it is one of the major characters of the film. After applying at a record store where another fight breaks out (violence never seems far away in any of Toback's films) she finally breaks down and gets a job as a waitress.

It isn't long before she escapes from her waitress job into the world of high fashion. If it was anyone other than Kinski playing Elizabeth then her getting discovered so quickly and out of the blue by a fashion photographer would seem ridiculous, but because it is Nastassja it seems completely believable. The photographer promises her "Different clothes, different looks and different selves", and for the first time in her life, Kinski's tragic character feels at home in her new role of inhabiting different persona's.

I typically don't like to do plot synopsis but it is very important to understand that Exposed, more that any other film she ever made, seems to be about Nastassja Kinski. The first hour of the film is a remarkable character study and portrait of a woman very much separated from her own identity, her own persona if you will. One person even says directly to Kinski at one point, "You have the mystery of Garbo, the wit of Lombard and eroticism of Monroe." What is striking about this isn't Toback's mirroring of the critical reaction Kinski always received, but the near disgusted and exhausted look on her face hearing it. Only Nastassja Kinski knows just how close Exposed was to her own self, but I am willing to bet their are few portrayals she gave that were more personal and close to her.

Nastassja has not spoken much on Exposed since its release, but her few comments have been telling. She would recall that, "I guess I've been a creature of the directors imagination. You see, I want to get a glimpse of his eyes searching out things inside of me. I want to go to hell and heaven for him. I want to make his dreams come true." She would speak more specifically on the film during the making of it with, "This movie is why we're alive. It is why you were born and I was born. If we die when this movie is finished it won't matter, because this is it." Exposed would stick with Nastassja Kinski and she would later recall to an interviewer that despite some difficulties making the film that, "I quite like Exposed and didn't think I would...I foresaw something bad...Exposed may not be perfect all over, but I liked it."

Unfortunately, the brilliance of the first hour of the film begins to disappear around the time Rudolf Nureyev is introduced into the plot, even though at first his addition is very successful. Nureyev might not be the worlds greatest actor but he has an undeniable quality about him and he plays well off Kinski in their first few scenes together. Kinski loved the experience and remembered that, "Meeting Rudy was like a legend, like a ghost. Just to meet him, to watch him, to listen to him was great! He has grace and strength, a joy and music within. And he has also the most tremendous beauty and charm. We got along very well in a short time and had so much in common. It was strange. I can't put it into words. Think of a situation where you look at each other and don't even have to say anything or where there is meaning between the words. The music that happens between two people can be just unbelievable."

Unfortunately Toback begins rolling some unnecessary plot mechanics in order to explain Nureyev's character when he should have been left mysterious. All of the power and majesty of the first hour of Exposed quickly gives way to the films disappointing final 40 minutes. Why Toback decided to introduce a bizarre plot twist involving terrorists in Paris has always been baffling. While it does all connect back to the unforgettable opening scene, Toback would have been much better off just having the terrorists as another example of the world surrounding Kinski collapsing. Instead he takes us into weird and convoluted section of the film that focuses on a fringe terrorist, played by a menacing Harvey Keitel, and his group of mostly female soldiers.

The film's final section does seem nearly totally disconnected from the first half, with only Kinski's fearless performance keeping the work grounded. Despite the problems of the film's final act, Exposed still manages to be completely arresting and its final shot, featuring a stunning black and white close up of Kinski's face, is just about the most unforgettable shot Toback or Kinski ever put on film. It very much recalls Keitel at the end of Fingers but it is even more effective here as we are given a woman who has found something in herself that she wasn't prepared for, something else she is going to have to escape from after the credits role and the audience has left the theater.

Technically the film is superb. Toback's direction is sublime in its execution and even when the plot mechanics fail towards the end, his expert framing and intelligent camera moves show a director well schooled in the great European masters of the post-war era. The film is shot by none other than legendary New Wave cinematographer Henri Decae. Henri photographed some of the most beautiful faces in screen history, so it is fitting that one of his last assignments was shooting Kinski in possibly her loveliest period. With Exposed she joined the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Jane Fonda and Al Pacino as being memorably captured by Decae's lens. Exposed is not remember as being one of the most memorably shot of Henri's career but there is much to admire in it, especially in the cold and wintry New York scenes and of course the two startling black and white fades that bookend the film. Exposed would be the last major work for the master photographer with just a handful of minor productions following.

While Exposed is certainly a tribute to Nastassja Kinski more than anything else, it can also accurately be described as a love letter to the French New Wave films of the fifties, sixties and seventies that Toback owes such a debt to.
The New Wave connection comes up at almost every turn, from the casting of people like Pierre Clementi to the photography of Decae. One of the most obvious and pronounced connections Toback's film had with the films of his youth is the stirring score by New Wave icon Georges Delerue.
The French born Delerue had a remarkable and prolific career that spanned over fifty years and included well over three hundred scores. While he worked in nearly every conceivable genre with directors all over the world, his name will always be synonymous with the French New Wave and one director in particular. Much like Bernard Hermann's name with always be matched with Alfred Hitchcock, and Pino Donnagio will forever be linked with Brian De Palma, the names Georges Delerue and Francois Truffaut will always be linked together in a very strong and noteworthy way. While his work with Truffaut is among his most talked about, probably the finest score he ever delivered was his haunting themes for Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt in 1963. It is perhaps no coincidence that the theme for Exposed shares some similarities with his heartbreaking and beautiful Godard score from twenty years before. Exposed isn't one of Delerue's great scores and at times it is a bit underused, but the main theme is lovely and his music does match the film's darkly romantic European leanings very well.

Exposed opened up in the United States in the spring of 1983 to very poor box office returns. Critics were divided on the film, with some, like Roger Ebert and Tom Milne, hailing it as a major work and others damning it and Kinski. Ebert was particularly passionate about Kinski in the film, a fact one can see from these portions of his review:

"This movie contains moments so exhilarating they reawakened me to the infinite possibilities of movies...Exposed contains the most exciting evidence yet that Nastassja Kinski is the next great female superstar. I do not say she is a great actress, not yet, and perhaps not ever. I do not compare her with Meryl Streep or Kate Nelligan, Jill Clayburgh or Jessica Lange. I am not talking in those terms of professional accomplishment. I am talking about the mysterious, innate quality that some performers have to cast a special spell, to develop a relationship with the camera that you can call stardom or voodoo or magic, because its name doesn't really matter.
Kinski has it. There are moments in this film (two virtuoso scenes, in particular, and then many other small moments and parts of scenes) when she affects me in the same way that Marilyn Monroe must have affected viewers, in movies like The Asphault Jungle or All About Eve. She was not yet a star and audiences did not even know her name, but there was a quality about her that could not be dismissed. Kinski has that quality. She has exhibited it before in better films, such as Tess, and in ambitious, imperfect films such as Cat People and One From the Heart. Now here is Exposed...The sheer quality of Kinski's abandon in these two scenes (the solo dance and violin seduction) made me realize how many barriers can sometimes exist between a performer and an audience: Here there are none...
If a movie can electrify me the way this one did, not once but twice and then some, I'm prepared to forgive it almost anything."

It would do a bit better in Europe but Exposed never really found its audience back in 1983. It fared better on VHS throughout the eighties, but it has still never been released on Region One DVD and remains out of print in the states. These screen shots are from an Italian DVD that a kind reader sent to me. Perhaps a Region 1 DVD is looming though as the film recently had a succesful screening at The New Beverly Theater and featured Quentin Tarantino doing an onstage interview with Toback. The most surprising and welcome portion of the evening though came when it became clear that Kinski herself was in the audience, and she got a huge ovation when Toback and Tarantino introduced her from the stage.

Despite some last act flaws, Exposed remains one of the most eerie and well conceived films of the eighties, and among the best films Nastassja Kinski has ever appeared in. Less a film about plot and more a film of personality, Exposed would find James Toback very boldly making a film not only for his leading lady but ultimately about her.

Exposed and Cat People Era Shots

2008-12-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

The Moon in the Gutter is coming to Region 1 DVD

2008-11-29T05:41:00.001-08:00

A kind reader has brought it to my attention that Cinema Libre has signed up with Jean-Jacques Beineix to re-release his historic catalogue of films in the United States. This group includes my beloved The Moon in the Gutter, as well as Betty Blue and several of his other films. DVD's are expected to follow...no word on extras yet but, since Beineix is directly involved, I suspect we might get some real special treats. I am thrilled at this news and am so grateful that these incredibly special films are reappearing again, especially Moon in the Gutter, which hasn't been available in the States for more than twenty years.

Nastassja on eBay

2008-11-13T06:07:00.001-08:00

This auction features some fairly rare clippings of Nastassja, a few of which I am sharing here.

The Ring (1996)

2008-11-11T08:50:00.001-08:00

Shot for TV in the early part of 1996 by talented director Armand Mastroianni in Paris, Prague and Switzerland, The Ring is far from one of Nastassja’s most distinguished productions but for a TV mini-series it is not bad at all. Featuring a noteworthy cast and Nastassja in a splendid lead performance, The Ring is a fairly classy period piece loosely adapted from a Danielle Steel novel.
Mastroianni has worked mostly in television in his near three decade career but genre film lovers will remember him mostly for his stylish 1980 slasher flick, He Knows You’re Alone. His work on The Ring is fairly solid and he captures Germany during World War Two quite well consider the means, locations and budget he had to work with.
Steel’s original novel, centering on a young woman separated from her family in Germany during the war, had been originally published in 1980 and it is widely considered among her most serious and better works. Steel had no active involvement with the script of the film version (those duties went to Nancy Sackett and Carmer Culver) but the network had no problem selling the film as one of her works, and indeed in much of the original advertising her name is listed as big as the title of the film. Ironically, the final film version apparently strays quite a bit from Steel’s original novel, although I can’t comment on this as I haven’t read it.
Joining Nastassja is an undeniably impressive cast including Michael York, Allessandro Nivola, Leslie Caron and Leigh Lawson (who had appeared in Tess with Nastassja more than fifteen years previously.) The whole cast delivers solid work, especially Nastassja who seems to be relishing having a meaty and serious part again after the dreadful double shot of Crackerjack and Terminal Velocity that had proceed The Ring.
Behind the scenes are some top of the line players as well, including famed composer Michel LeGrand, whose score gives the film a tragically romantic and rather lush feel. Also, while the film never fully escapes from the trappings of a TV production, cinematographer Gideon Porath manages to give it a stately and distinguished look that separates it from most TV films of the era.
The Ring is nowhere near perfect and at 180 minutes it feels more than a little overblown and at times overtly melodramatic. Thankfully Mastroianni manages to keep things interesting and the film moves along at a nice pace, and never completely outstays its welcome.
The film appeared on American TV over two nights in October of 1996 to fairly solid ratings and mixed to positive critical notices. It would prove more popular in parts of Europe, where it had some sporadic theatrical showings throughout 1998 and 1999. It is currently available on DVD and I will eventually post some screenshots of it when time permits.

Vote for Nastassja at GQ

2008-11-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

Not sure how much longer it will be going on but GQ magazine is having an online poll judging the 25 sexiest actress of the past forty years or so. Nastassja is, of course, one of the choices and everyone should visit here and give her a vote. While I typically don't like these sort of polls, this one seems to be in a fun and tributary spirit so I thought the link was worth posting.

Hatred and Hunger (1994)

2008-10-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

Nearly impossible to find now, episode seven of the acclaimed PBS documentary The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century entitled "Hatred and Hunger" features the voice of Nastassja Kinski as Rosa Luxemburg. Information on this hard to find series that Nastassja lent her voice to can be found here.

Terminal Velocity (1994)

2008-10-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

Released in 1994 to almost universal critical disdain and poor box-office receipts, Terminal Velocity is exactly the rather lame and mindless failure most people considered upon its original release. Unfortunately it would also be the highest profile American film Nastassja Kinski had made since the disastrously received Revolution nearly a decade before. Coming on the heels of a such an ambitious and well meaning film like Faraway, So Close, Terminal Velocity seems even all the more vapid and lifeless and it remains among the worst films Nastassja Kinski ever appeared in.
Of course, little of the blame for Terminal Velocity’s failure can be placed at the feet of Nastassja Kinski. Poorly scripted David Twohy and blandly directed by Deran Sarafian with a weak lead performance by Charlie Sheen (who seems to be here just to pick up a paycheck), Terminal Velocity feels like a doomed production all the way through with only some good stunt work and a couple of decent action sequences distinguishing it.

Astonishingly, Sheen and Kinski weren’t the only talented and high profiled actors attached to this limp work. Everyone from future Sopranos star James Gandolfini to legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles to Brooke Langton are featured and wasted in the film.

There is some hefty talent behind the scenes talent as well who do some of the most un-noteworthy work of their careers including BAFTA nominated cinematographer Oliver Wood and usually reliable composer Joel McNeely. Everyone working on Terminal Velocity, outside of the stunt crew headed by Buddy Jo Hooker, just seem like they are on autopilot.

Charlie Sheen had hit a bad spot in his career in 1994 and was caught between his earlier fine dramatic work with the likes of Oliver Stone and his current status as popular television comedian. He’s at his worst in Terminal Velocity and sleepwalks through the role, plus he has less chemistry with Kinski than probably any male lead has had in a film with her before or since.

Like in the previously lame action flick she had just appeared in, Crackerjack, Nastassja isn’t given much to do here and there isn’t really a part for her to elevate. She’s simply the girl in the film and as in Crackerjack (or any number of unfortunate films she has shot since) she is simply too big for the role…to say it is beneath her is an incredible understatement.

Terminal Velocity limped into theaters in the fall of 1994 and it disappeared soon after. Budgeted at a whopping 50 million, it only grossed 16 and was one of the biggest disappointments of the year. A minor hit on home video and TV, it is still in print on a barebones widescreen DVD.

2008-10-31T15:35:00.001-07:00

Tess Wallpapers (Set One)

2008-10-24T20:10:00.001-07:00

Nastassja on eBay: Rare Photos and More

2008-10-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

Three fascinating auctions have appeared on eBay advertised as some of Nastassja's personal items. Most of the things, that were bought at an auction, are just promotional materials but there are some real treats...such as these amazing photos of Nastassja as a child with her parents.

A link to one is above and from there you can view the other two.

Stay As You Are Screenshots Project Part 4

2008-09-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

New Posts Coming Soon

2008-09-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

My sincere apologies for the lack of updates recently. I've been incredibly busy with school, Moon in the Gutter and my new project Fascination but new posts are coming here very soon. I must admit also that it is more depressing than I imagined covering some of Nastassja's lesser works. I am incredibly excited though to get to such worthwhile projects such as One Night Stand, Your Friends and Neighbors and several others we have coming up. Don't give up on me, Nostalgia Kinky will be up and running again very soon. Thanks for the patience.

Nastassja on eBay: Stay as You Are Lobby Card

2008-09-02T05:33:00.001-07:00

Critical Reactions: Terminal Velocity (1994)

2008-09-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

Terminal Velocity (1994) would be the most high profile English language film for Nastassja since the mid eighties, unfortunately the production is not all that distinguished. The film works as an okay action film but Nastassja, cast opposite Charlie Sheen, is given little to do and the work is never totally successful. Still, it was nice to see Nastassja back in the headlines when the film was released, although as you can see below critical reaction wasn't so favorable and the picture made very little impact.

"There is a thin line between an action-adventure movie that has a human touch and one that doesn't, and "Terminal Velocity" falls on the inhuman side. For all its concentration on action, the recent blockbuster "Speed," which "Terminal Velocity" sometimes recalls, included two or three characters who behaved like everyday people. Their hair-raising journey on a speeding bus was an adventure that anyone who has ridden on a freeway could identify with...
The chemistry between Mr. Sheen and Ms. Kinski is also flat. Although Mr. Sheen's cocky, sarcastic performance suggests that he has a chance of becoming another Robert Mitchum, his character is too loutish to be sympathetic. And Ms. Kinski gives a thin, jittery performance that is lacking in both sensuality and feeling. After all its rollercoaster thrills, the movie provides no romantic payoff."
-Stephen Holden, New York Times-

"It is possible to enjoy Terminal Velocity once you realize how truly awful a film it is. In fact, it's only then that it becomes fun. In terms of laughs, there are moments of high mirth. The question is: how much of the humor is intentional? Sadly, given the way the film was put together, the answer is likely to disappoint. Intent, however, does little to limit effect. Why else do people find Plan Nine from Outer Space so engaging? (No, Terminal Velocity isn't that bad.)"
-James Berardinelli, ReelViews-

"Sheen seems aware of the movie's comic possibilities, and must surely have had a smile on his face when he designed his character's haircut, which seems inspired by the pompadour of the hero of a little-seen but long-remembered movie named "Johnny Suede." Kinski has a hair motif, too - it's always in her eyes - but she brings a bright, bemused air to her character, and has fun juggling various accents."
-Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times-

""Terminal Velocity" could also refer to the speed at which Charlie Sheen's career is plunging earthward. Sheen's character here requires a certain level of stardom that the actor aspires to but has never reached. He can't redeem bad material through sheer force of personality like, say, Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis can. He's a supporting player, and his lack of stature makes "Terminal Velocity" appear undermanned, starless.
As for Kinski, she has only recently returned to regular movie work after taking a break to raise her children. She should've stayed away a little longer."
-Hal Hinson, Washington Post-

"Summer's officially over, and with the release of “Terminal Velocity,” the bottom of the summer-movie barrel has officially been scraped. Movie distributors must have had some kind of gaping hole to fill in their schedules, because this thrill-free thriller has straight-to-video written all over it.
Whoever thought of casting charmless Charlie Sheen with the long-lost and unlamented Nastassja Kinski as romantic leads deserves some sort of genius award. Guess Heidi Fleiss wasn’t available. This time, the insufferably smug Sheen’s a cocky skydiver, who has just broken an FAA record for safety violations. Kinski’s a foreign babe who shows up one day looking for her first skydiving lesson. She wants it now, and only from the soon-to-be-grounded Sheen."
-Joe Brown, Washington Post-

"It's not that David Twohy's script is bad -- it's awful, crammed with mind-boggling improbabilities and gigantic leaps of faith that -- stunningly -- actually pale beside the steady stream of rank, tired witticisms that flow like verbal sewage from Sheen's wiseacre mouth. It's bad enough when Schwarzenegger and Van Damme attempt clever repartee, but it's a felony offense to give Sheen this much rope. Kinski (?!) is adequate as the KGB pariah, but only just. It's clearly not her type of film, and rumors of heated offscreen battles between herself and Sheen only serve to point up that fact. Stunt fans will find plenty of aerial acrobatics to slake their thirsts, including a dizzying, Houdini-esque gag involving an airborne transport plane and an equally untethered sports car. Stuntwork aside, though, perhaps this film would have been more aptly titled Terminal Stupidity."
-Austin-Chronical-

"Sheen is a dumb, daredevil sky-diving instructor mixed up with the Russian Mafia and $600m of stolen Soviet gold. Things get off to an attention-grabbing start when, soon after her flatmate is murdered by Russkie thugs, blonde babe Chris (Kinski) persuades 'Ditch' Brodie (Sheen) to take her up for her first jump. She then redefines the meaning of drop-dead beautiful - she jumps, she drops, she's dead. Or is she? Is that unidentifiable body really hers? To cut a long story short, Ditch stumbles about looking for clues to Chris's nose-dive, which lead him to members of the KG-used-to-B, who plan to fund an anti-democratic coup with the stolen gold. While Kinski unwisely takes the whole thing seriously, Sheen simply grins inanely and makes flip remarks. If you can wait long enough, the extended airborne finale is one of the most extraordinary stunts you're ever likely to see; but like the soundtrack, it's too big for the picture. Most people will have bailed out long before then."
-Time Out-

Crackerjack (1994)

2008-09-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

Directed with as little flair as possible by Michael Mazo from a witless script by Jonas Quastel and Michael Bafaro, Crackerjack is one of the worst films Nastassja Kinski ever appeared in. The fact that the film, a poor Die Hard wanna-be that fails at every turn, followed up a work as well meaning and esteemed as Wim Wender’s Faraway So Close makes its shallowness all the harder to swallow.

Nastassja thankfully has a relatively small role in the film, which is controlled by the rather weak lead of Thomas Ian Griffith. Griffith is joined by the usually reliable Christopher Plummer as well as some other recognizable faces, all of whom are much better than this lousy film they are stuck in.

Crackerjack fails on even the most rudimentary levels of basic storytelling and filmmaking…the fact that the film inspired not one but two cringe worthy sequels (thankfully Nastassja was not involved in either) is as depressing as it is telling.

Shot in the Czech Republic as well as Canada, Crackerjack at the very least should have worked as a gorgeous looking production but the TV-movie like photography of Danny Nowak is flat at best. Even worse, the film takes itself entirely too seriously so it doesn’t even have the opportunity to work as just a big dumb fun action movie. Special Effects creator Terry Sonderhoff (who has done a lot of good work in his career) is hampered as well by the low budget and Crackerjack fails to generate any excitement in its visually motivated sequences.

Nastassja has nothing to do here and her performance shows it. She’s not bad but her part is written just as ‘the girl’ and frankly she is just too good for the film, and her appearance in it is out of place to say the least. Crackerjack unfortunately marks a period in Nastassja’s career where she would appear in many films simply not good enough for her, including her next film Terminal Velocity (which at the very least works as the fun action film Crackerjack fails to be at every turn.)

Crackerjack has basically slipped into total obscurity and it basically went straight to video in late 1994. My screenshots are taken from that ugly old VHS copy of it and the film, to my knowledge, has never had a DVD release anywhere. It’s a depressing experience for fans of Kinski’s prestigious career and just action thrillers in general.

Very Bad News

2008-08-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

It looks like Diane Kruger has been given the part Nastassja was rumored for in Tarantino's upcoming Inglorious Bastards. I am really depressed to hear this as working with QT would have been a sharp reminder to how incredible an actress and screen presence Nastassja is. It could have introduced an entire new generation to her work. The report on Kruger's apparent casting can be read here and it is very disappointing (no offence meant to Kruger, who is a very effective actress and great beauty in her own right).

Faraway, So Close! (1993)

2008-08-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Wim Wenders’ follow-up feature to his legendary Wings of Desire is simultaneously one of his most flawed productions and most resonate. Gone is the moody perfection that inhabited so much of his early career, and in its place in Faraway, So Close! is a sprawling over-ambitiousness that is as beautiful as it is frustrating and as poignant as it is flawed.

Of the three films Nastassja Kinski made with Wim Wenders, Faraway, So Close! is the weakest and yet there is something profound and right about it. Faraway, So Close! is a overtly spiritual work that has moments that rank along with the best of Wenders, but it’s hard to deny that the film falters in ways that Wenders work hadn’t before it. It’s a film that finds the great German director transitioning from one of the shining lights of the art house world into one of the most fractured.

Wings of Desire was a phenomenal success for Wenders and is arguably the pinnacle of his career. A near unanimous critical smash that is often featured along with Scorsese’s Raging Bull as the best film of the eighties, Wings of Desire was one of the oddest choices for a film to make a sequel to so Faraway, So Close! automatically had a lot going against it.

One of the most anticipated films at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and one of the most controversial, Wenders Faraway, So Close! split audience and critical reaction more than any of his films prior had. Even the admires (and there is a lot to admire abut the film) were more muted than usual and its critics were much more vicious.

The film, written by Wenders with Richard Reitinger and Ulrich Zieger, like Wings of Desire centers on a group of Angels in Berlin looking over the people in the city. Also, like Wings of Desire, it features cameos from real life figures including everyone from Lou Reed to Peter Falk to most astonishingly Mikhail Gorbachev.

The positives from Wender’s sprawling film are easy to note. A incredibly beautiful looking mostly black and white production shot by legendary DP Jurgen Jurges, Faraway, So Close!is at the very least one of the most striking looking films from the early nineties. The acclaimed soundtrack, featuring a beautiful score by Laurent Petitgand and songs by the likes of Reed, U2 and Simon Bonney has also held up very well. This is also clearly one of the most personal projects Wenders ever mounted and its clear-headed spirituality is downright touching. There’s nothing ironic about Wender’s work here and its good-heartedness and good-will make it one of the most spiritually resonate works in all of modern cinema.

Unfortunately the negatives are just as easy to spot. Overlong and sloppy, the film never finds a consistent tone and for the first time in his career Wenders seems downright confused by the film he is making. Part political commentary about the reunification of Germany that had happened after Wings of Desire and part Spiritual confirmation, Faraway, So Close! marks a surprisingly unbalanced period for Wenders, one that unfortunately he has still not fully recovered from.

Despite the films many faults, its virtues finally outweigh them. The cast is extraordinary with special mention going to German actors Otto Sander and Bruno Ganz. The American actors in the film, including Falk and Willem Dafoe, are also quite splendid in their smaller roles. If the film does finally feel a bit bloated due to the cameos, Lou Reed does reverberate nicely specifically in a chill inducing moment when he plays his “Berlin” in his hotel room.

Nastassja is really fine in her role as the good hearted angel Raphaela and it remains one of her most resoundingly tender roles. There is something special in the collaboration between Kinski and Wenders and that comes out here, even though one wishes more time would have been spent on her character rather than the irritatingly silly action subplots that film becomes occupied with in its last forth.

Faraway, So Close! surprisingly won the Grand Prize at the 93 Cannes festival but the disappointment many people felt with it was palatable, and by the time it reached Britain and the States the sharp backlash was in full force. The soundtrack ended up being a much bigger success than the film did, and after a brief theatrical run it was relegated to a poor full frame VHS that destroyed the film’s stately compositions. Most English speaking countries would have to wait nearly ten years to see a decent copy of the film but thankfully the Widescreen DVD of it is quite nice, and it even contains a commentary by Wenders where he manages to highlight the films many virtues and faults.

Stay as You Are Screenshots Project Part 3

2008-08-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

Nastassja Kinski Rumored to Return for Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards

2008-08-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of weeks after running into each other at a screening of James Toback's Exposed, it looks like Quentin Tarantino and Nastassja Kinski's paths might soon cross again. While Brad Pitt and Eli Roth are the only two major cast members to have officially signed on so far to Tarantino's long awaited war epic Inglorious Bastards, Kinski is in serious discussions with the writer and director to return to the screen to play Third Reich film star Bridget Von Hammersmark. This story is being reported at several spots on the Internet including here and here.
This role would mark Kinski's first appearance in front of the cameras since her cameo two years ago in David Lynch's Inland Empire and her first starring role in more that five years. Also in talks for what promises to be a mind-blowing production are Simon Pegg, Udo Kier and BJ Novak.
Thanks to Mr. Peel for this very hopeful and exciting news.

Toback and Tarantino Introduce Nastassja on Exposed Screening

2008-08-05T19:43:00.001-07:00

Even though the tapers memory card ran out before he could get the whole thing, this is still a very special clip.

Wenders on Faraway, So Close

2008-07-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

From The Cinema of Wim Wenders and The Celluloid Highway:

"The hesitancy to say something rests on the inability to form an opinion. Everybody wants to stay out of things. But with the present situation, one cannot stay out of things. Today, films are evaluated exclusively by their entertainment value, and it bothered many people that Faraway, So Close had a message, especially if they saw it as a Christian message."

"Stories are impossible, but it's impossible to live without them. That's the mess I'm in."

Interviewed by Daly and Waugh at Film West:

"I think every film is a new exploration of that equation, and that each film defines its own time and its own space, and each film does so from scratch. Faraway, so Close certainly defined a different time to Wings of Desire which is after all what the title of its sequel is referring back to."

"Faraway so Close was the first script that Ulrich ever wrote. He’s a young German poet. He wrote two stage plays and basically a collection of poems and his poems were the only thing I knew when I contacted him. Maybe it’s also because I know so well the structure and the story of what I want to do, or even if I don’t know it I feel it’s something that has to come from myself. Because the one thing that I really can’t find for myself, and that other people are so much better at is to invent characters, and to have different people speak differently, which is an incredible gift I think, to write a script and achieve this phenomenon that one person speaks according to his character and he sits at a table with somebody else who speaks differently. Whatever I did in my life, whenever I was writing dialogue, everybody was speaking with my voice and that’s boring. I really think it’s a fantastic gift to be able to write dialogue, but of course nobody just writes dialogue. Whenever you sit and write with somebody they are getting involved with the story, the structure and with the various scenes. I was never really looking for somebody who was a screenwriter in the sense that he was responsible for the ‘screen-play’. I was looking for somebody who was just a good writer."

From John Wilson's The Best Christian Writing 2004.

"Far Away, So Close! was a film that was clearly made with religious intent. I mean, it even starts with a quotation from the Gospel of Matthew: 'The eye is the lap of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness'."

"In Far Away, So Close! there's an entire film happening just on an audio level, and it's filled with all sorts of quotes, many from the Old and New Testaments. From the beginning, I felt that if we ever made a second film with these angel characters, I couldn't pretend that nothing had happened to me in between. I couldn't make another film in which the angels were metaphors, because they were no longer metaphors to me. If I made another film about angels, they would have to be messengers of God, the go-betweens. They could refer only to God, because as messengers, they were nothing in themselves -- the message was everything. So the film had to be filled with their message. To do anything else with these characters would have been to betray my entire experience. The film would have to be with God from beginning to end, because that would be the angels' only intention. Unlike Wings of Desire, where their metaphorical choice was to become human, in Far Away, So Close! that was no longer an option. It does happen that the angel Cassiel becomes a man, but only so that he then can return to being an angel. In a strange way, in Wings of Desire the spiritual world was a metaphor, but in Far Away, So Close! life is the metaphor for something spiritual.
In hindsight, I must say, I was too didactic. The film was way too cerebral. In the first year you become a missionary or a priest, you probably, make nothing but mistakes because you're too upfront about things. You're too filled with a certain desire, and that kills everything you want to achieve. When I see the film now, and I hear all those quotes, I must say that I was filled with too much missionary fervor."

Beineix's The Moon In the Gutter is Coming to Berkeley

2008-07-30T07:22:00.001-07:00

A kind reader has informed me that the Berkley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive will be hosting a rare screening of Jean-Jacques Beineix's The Moon in the Gutter as part of a David Goodis retrospective on Saturday, August 23rd. The screening will be hosted by noir aficionado and former film programmer for the Roxie Cinema, Elliot Lavine, and information on this welcome event can be found here.
I'm thrilled to see that the film is not only being screened but is also closing the festival, which also includes the terrific Bogart and Bacall film Dark Passage, Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player and half a dozen others. I wish I had the means to get to the screening but even though I can't I thought some interested readers here might...and if anyone does a full report would be most appreciated! Who knows, with Nastassja Kinski recently making a surprising appearance at The New Beverly Cinema's screening of Exposed, perhaps she might revisit this one as well.

Nastassja on Faraway, So Close

2008-07-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

"I'm truly lucky that Wenders saw and believed in me, and truly lucky to have worked with him three times."

"I often feel with God and humans and angels that it's up to us to make something or to break it, to do things or not to do them. The angels in Faraway, So Close are observers, and they are frustrated because they can't do anything: they can be there, they can soothe, they can speak to people's souls and hearts, but they can't prevent things from happening unless they become human. So their role is kind of a sad one. They say to humans, 'You think we're far away but we're really close. We are nothing, and you are everything to us, and everything's in your power.' I could really understand this-I've always thought it was that way. Faith is important, and yet it's here on earth with each other that we have to do our best."
-to Sheila Benson in Interview, 1993-

"Wenders was always nice, very calm, steady. He created a family atmosphere, everything I wanted."
-To Suzie MacKenzie in The Guardian, 1999-

The Welcome Return of Exposed?

2008-07-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

A kind reader alerted me to the fact that The New Beverly Theater is currently having the remarkable double feature of James Toback's Fingers and Exposed. According to this readers report, in attendance opening night was Nastassja Kinski herself. Toback was also there presenting the film and apparently introduced Nastassja, which no doubt made for an extraordinarily memorable evening all the way around. I really hope this current and surprising news leads to Exposed finally getting a DVD release sometime in the near future.

A fellow blogger has posted a nice report on this event that can be read here.

Stay As You Are Screenshots Project Part 2

2008-07-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Cosi Come Sei (Stay As You Are) Screenshots Project Part 1

2008-07-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

When I initially started Nostalgia Kinky I didn't have the capability to make screenshots from my collection. Since I have that now I will be backtracking somewhat to post some from her films. These will sporadically be appearing with my regular postings.

Facebook Group Started

2008-07-20T17:45:00.001-07:00

I have just started a Facebook group for Nostalgia Kinky and wanted to invite any readers here who have Facebook accounts to join up. Feel free to participate in respectful discussions, post photos, videos or just connect with other Kinski fans.

I hope everyone who visits here regularly will join up and as a reminder the MySpace page is still opened as well. Thank you.

Shooting Kinski: Jurgen Jurges

2008-07-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

Award winning cinematographer Jurgen Jurges was born in war ravaged Germany a couple of weeks before Christmas in 1940. Jurges discovered a natural eye for photography very early on and by his twenties it was his main focus and passion. He began his cinematic career in 1966 as an assistant cameraman on the acclaimed Young Torless from director Volker Schlondorff.
Things really began to kick in gear for the talented Jurges when he shot Ulli Lommell’s astonishing Tenderness of the Wolves in 1973 which led him directly to Lommell’s mentor, Ranier Werner Fassbinder.
With the legendary Fassbinder, Jurgen shot some of the most important films of the seventies including Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974), Effi Breist (1974) and Fear of Fear (1975).
As essential as his work for Fassbinder is, my favorite project of Jurgen’s is absolutely Uli Edel’s heartbreaking 1981 feature Christiane F., one of the most powerful films centering on drug addiction ever filmed. Jurgen’s work is absolutely superb in this production and it is hard to imagine the film’s spiritually icy landscape being photographed by anyone else.
Jurgen’s work on the black and white and color Faraway, So Close is quite striking and he would be honored with a German Oscar for his work on the film. Surprisingly it remains the only time Wenders and Jurgen would work together, even though artistically they seemed to represent a perfect fit. It would also mark the only time he ever photgraphed Nastassja in a film.
Jurgen’s continues to be one of the most in demand cinematographers in Germany and in 2002 he was given a lifetime achievement award at the German Oscars, an honor well deserved for one of cinema’s most striking stylists.

The Faraway, So Close Soundtrack

2008-07-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

There is one thing you can be sure of when discussing a Wim Wenders film, and that is that the soundtrack is guaranteed to be a winner. Such is the case with the incredible album that accompanied his Faraway, So Close, an LP made up of stirring compositions by Laurent Petitgand and songs by modern rock’s finest.
French born Petitgand came into this world in 1959, just as the French were discovering rock and roll and we were discovering their new wave films. The multi-instrumentalist got his first exposure to music by singing in a church choir as a child, something that would set in motion his life’s passion for music, the theater and film.
Petitgand scored his first job in a film as composer on the Isabelle Huppert vehicle The Wings of the Dove in 1981. Five years would pass before his next assignment but it would prove to be a life altering one as it for Wim Wender’s 1985 production Tokyo-Ga. Wenders immediately took a shine to Petitgand and his music and he brought him on board his Wings of Desire in 1987 for a song and then again as a composer for his 1989 documentary A Notebook on Clothes and Cities. Petitgand also began appearing in front of the camera in this period, for Wenders and other directors.
Petitgand’s score for Faraway, So Close is quite majestic and is one of the films strongest points, even though it is often overlooked due to the other more well known artists on the record. The film remains perhaps the highpoint of Petitgand’s career as a composer so far although his work since on productions like Antonioni’s 1995 feature Beyond The Clouds (co-directed by Wenders) and Paul Auster’s 2007 work The Inner Life of Martin Frost is exceptional.

Surrounding Petitgand on the album is an incredible amount of talent including such legendary figures as Lou Reed, U2, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and Laurie Anderson as well as such notable underground figures like Simon Bonney and Jane Siberry. Wender’s knows his stuff and all of the artists here deliver exceptional work with special mention going to Reed’s ferocious "Why Can’t I Be Good" (used to devestating effect in the film in a performance clip) and Bonney’s stunning "Travelin’ On". While most of these songs weren’t written specifically for Wender’s film you really can’t tell as they all work for it perfectly.

The album was a bigger hit back in 1994 than the film when they both came out which makes it surprising that it is currently out of print in America. Copies can still be found fairly easily though and it is highly recommended.

In Camera Mia: 20 Screen Shots

2008-07-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Despite being given second billing in Luciano Martino’s In Camera Mia, Nastassja only appears in a handful of scenes throughout the films 95 minute running time. I am unable to offer up a review of what appears to be a rather slight sex comedy due to the fact that my copy is only in Italian. The film is definitely a vehicle for Gianfranco Manredi and is probably most notable for giving future Italian screen goddess Vittoria Belvedere her first big screen role. Here are some screen captures of Nastassja in this rather mysterious entry in her filmography. My look at Faraway, So Close will continue this weekend.

Critical Reactions: Faraway, So Close

2008-07-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Critical reaction to Nastassja's third film with Wim Wenders, Faraway So Close, was mixed with critics either finding much to love or much to hate. Here is a small sampling of critical views to Wender's Wings of Desire follow-up.

"Wenders is sincere in his acknowledgement of a spiritual dimension in human experience...he has a marvelous cast (including) Nastassja Kinksi as an angel who remains angelic...Wender's impulses are laudable and the best moments of his new picture are magnificent."
-David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor-

"Profound...arguably a great film...demanding but truly rewarding."
-Kevin Thomas, LA Times-

"'Faraway, So Close,' is a lyrical and profoundly goofy continuation of Mr. Wenders's 1987 cult hit "Wings of Desire...Mr. Wenders, the king of road movies, is at his best when he sets his angels free as if they were in a road movie of the air. Cassiel and a beautiful angel called Raphaela (Nastassja Kinski, underused here) discover that Berlin is rife with Americans. Among them are Peter Falk and Lou Reed, whose cameos provide some bright, tongue-in-cheek moments, though the scenes also suggest that Mr. Wenders's idea of German unification has more to do with geography and slogans than with politics...But there is also great daring, wit and style. Like Mr. Wenders's previous film, last year's "Until the End of the World," this one begins as a swirl of dazzling ambition and at midpoint turns into a mess. Even so, and even at 2 hours and 20 minutes, it is one of the more intriguing messes on screen."
-Caryn James, New York Times-

"As Wings was Damiel's story, so Faraway is Cassiel's. Unlike its predecessor, this is not a light, mystical romance, but a somewhat muddled narrative that ends up resembling an offbeat action/adventure movie. It's still a film about issues -- humanity, the soul, time, and Nazism -- but it lacks many of the "art" aspect of Wings, relying more on straightforward storytelling...The cast is excellent. It's nice to see Bruno Ganz and Solveig Dommartin (Marion) together again, although their importance is greatly reduced from Wings...About the only thing I can say regarding a recommendation is that a viewing of Wings of Desire is almost mandatory before seeing Faraway, So Close! Going into this film without the background of its predecessor will leave a movie-goer adrift and confused. On the other hand, sitting through Wings of Desire doesn't guarantee enjoyment of the sequel (in fact, many fans of the first will probably be sorely disappointed by the turn that this script takes), but going cold into Faraway, So Close! will almost certainly lead to a negative reaction."
- James Berardinelli, ReelViews-

"Wenders is at his serene best when he's being impressionistic and intuitive, when he's compiling the cinematic equivalent of a scrapbook -- a collection of images, sounds and feelings. You only have to watch "Wings" or his lesser known work -- like "Tokyo-Ga" (a beautiful, diary-film pilgrimage to Japan, land of Wenders's hero-director, Yasujiro Ozu) -- to appreciate that. But "Faraway" feels manufactured rather than authentically realized. There seems to be no internal momentum, or purpose, to it. Even Sander's once-compelling presence becomes increasingly tiresome.
The film's final poetic messages about angels, people and love, is undeniably appealing; it's the heartfelt center to the movie. But the narrative journey up to this point has been so frustrating and inconsistent, the conclusion feels like an afterthought."
-Desson Howe, Washington Post-

"Like the original, "Wings 2" is endearing, even if it is a spiritual muddle. It is rapturously photographed and drunk on its own metaphysical hyperbole. Like most sequels -- the exception would be "The Godfather, Part II" -- it's a second helping, though it helps that Wenders is serving angel dust."
-Rita Kempley, Washington Post-

"In Faraway, So Close! Wim Wenders offers us an imaginative look at the interplay between angels and humans. Cassiel's journey through Berlin captures and conveys the demons of modernism which keep humans from any deep interest in the invisible--the frantic rush of life, the separateness of individuals in their own private worlds, and the seeds of violence scattered in images, guns, and economic competition.
At the same time, this touching and fluid movie speaks forcefully to those who believe in angels and their providential place in our lives. Wenders challenges us to think seriously about the mystery that lies at the heart of life--our capacity for good and for evil. This story about Cassiel's sojourn on earth testifies to the narcissism, indifference, and violence of our time. But it is also comforting to know that guardian angels are watching over us and always will. The world is a far better place because they are ever so close."
-Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice-

"Gone is the visual and stylistic poetry of Wings of Desire, replaced by an absurd kidnapping subplot and tedious expositional dialogue. Guns are drawn and redrawn, Dafoe tries his best to look menacing, but it all feels like someone else was calling the shots. Above all, it doesn't feel like a Wenders film; the tone is all wrong, as if Joel Silver had gotten control of the production and hired Walter Hill to direct (I was waiting for the Ahnold to plod through at one point, but thankfully he never bothered to show up). It's a mess, but it's Wenders' mess, and that means that there are any number of salvageable parts to the whole. His use of crisp black-and-white cinematography for the angelic shots remains startling and reinforces Cassiel's bewilderment once he is earthbound, his holy armor tucked beneath his arm. People who were waiting for Wings of Desire II can exhale now, though. It's not going to happen, and when you stop to think about it, once really is enough."
-Marc Savloy, Austin Chronicle-

"Wenders' follow-up to Wings of Desire is a considerable disappointment, a sprawling metaphysical caper movie which has much in common with his previous picture, Until the End of the World. Beginning a few years after Damiel (Ganz) hung up his wings to settle down with Marion (Dommartin), the film follows the angel Cassiel (Sander) as he too becomes mortal. Life doesn't throw him any great romance, however - instead, he finds himself in an extraordinary convoluted (and extremely tedious) mystery thriller. We get jokes, whimsy, hijinks and escapades; we get Lou Reed strumming a new song; we even get bungee-jumping at the climax. What's lacking is any sense of form. The movie meanders for two and a half hours, has glaring continuity gaps, and repeatedly confuses self-consciousness with irony, sincerity with significance. There are grace notes here, but Wenders' ambitions seem far, far away."
-TimeOut-

"Faraway, So Close has had a rough ride ever since it was screened last year at Cannes, ina version 20 minutes longer. It had a reception of bemused shrugs. British critics have written it off as a further step into irreversible dementia...and it has been called formless, sentimental and pretentious...but I am putting Faraway, So Close right into my list of great misunderstood films...it's massively flawed but gloriously so...Faraway so Close isn't a fully formed film like Wings of Desire, which is why I prefer it. It's a semi-improvised drunken notebook of jottings...it has grace to spare."
-Jonathan Romney, New Statesman and Society-

"Wenders may want us to forget Wings of Desire, But I don't want to. And Faraway So Close isn't the film to make anyone forget it."
-John Anderson, Newsday-

"frequently irritating, it's rarely boring. And it has moments of delight...but in the end it founders under the weight of it's own self-indulgence."
-Phillip Kemp, Sight and Sound-

"routine and bizarrely arbitrary...looser wackier and more comic than Wings of Desire...light headed without being funny...(it has) a loopy grandeur...(Kinski is) suitably beatific."
-J. Hoberman, Village Voice-

"A bizarre, uneven, often captivating piece of work...odd, tender and surprising...Kinski projects a solemn, haunting beauty in this film that is truly otherworldly."
-Michael Medved, New York Post-

The above shots are taken from the essential Nastassja Kinski JP. I will be offering up my own screenshots later in this series.

Shooting Kinski: Sabastiano Celeste

2008-07-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

Despite never receiving the acclaim or stature of many of his peers, Cinematographer Sabastiano Celeste (a photographer who often works under the name of Nino Celeste) has had an adventerous and sometime daring career in his forty plus years behind the camera.
After working throughout the early sixties as a camera operator attempting to break through in Italian cinema (with a Pier Pasolini short being among his earliest credits) he didn’t get his first proper cinematographer credit until 1970 with Valentino Orsini’s Corbari. This flawed but interesting political feature starring Giuliano Gemma and Tina Aumont kick started a career that has continued steadily up till this day.
While he would continue to work as camera operator on some more Pasolini productions, Celeste really made his name as a cinematographer on more exotic genre fair for directors like Bruno Corbucci and Umberto Lenzi . Genre favorites like Corbucci’s The Cop In Blue Jeans (1976) and Lenzi’s Violent Naples (1976) showed Celeste as an expert at capturing a gritty urban feel while his work on Mario and Lamberto Bava’s Venus of Ille (1979) and the great 1986 Italian Horror film Spider Labyrinth showed him as more poetic with his photography than might have been previously imagined.
By the eighties Celeste found himself working more and more in comedy (with films like the Carmen Russo vehicle My Wife Goes Back To School from 1981) and softcore erotic fare (the late period Laura Gemser Black Emanuelle entry 1982’s Emanuelle, Queen of the Desert probably being the most well known). By the time he shot Nastassja in In Camera Mia in 1992, he was mostly working in television productions (including Lucio Fulci’s Sweet House of Horrors from 1989) with the odd theatrical gig thrown in for good measure.
The bits and pieces I have seen of In Camera Mia show Celeste’s photography as competent if not overly memorable, although since I have yet to see the full film with a good print it is hard for me to accurately give a verdict. Directed by Sergio Martino’s older brother Luciano, In camera Mia would do little for anyone involved, including Nastassja or Celeste.
Since In Camera Mia, Celeste has continued working for both the big and small screen. The Martino film would mark the only time he would photograph Nastassja. His most recent credit is an Italian TV series entitled Agrodolce.

In Camera Mia: Short Scene

2008-07-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Some nice soul uploaded this short scene from one of Nastassja's hardest to see films.

In Camera Mia DVD Artwork

2008-07-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

DVD Artwork from one of Nastassja's hardest to see films.

Nastassja On eBay: Two Rare Kino Covers

2008-07-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

The Blonde: Additional Screenshots

2008-07-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

La Bionda (The Blonde)

2008-07-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

Award winning writer, director and actor Sergio Rubini was born in Italy just a week shy of 1960. He became interested in the performing arts as a young boy growing up outside of Apulia and made it his life goal to immerse himself in all aspects of it that he could. He became especially enthralled with the theater as a teenager and relocated to Rome to study just past his teenage years. After several noteworthy roles on the stage, the handsome Rubini caught the eye of an Italian film producer and he was cast opposite beautiful Serena Grandi in 1985’s Desiderando Giulia for director Andrea Barzini.
Rubini began to get more and work after the feature with the voluptuous Grandi and by 1987 he was starring in a film directed by none other than Federico Fellini himself, the controversial Intervista. While Intervista would turn out to be one of the maestro’s lesser works, Rubini shined in it and it opened an entire new cinematic world to him.
His clout as an actor continued to rise throughout the late eighties in a variety of roles before he announced in 1989 that he would be starring in La Stazione, a film he would also write and direct. La Stazione, which would team him with his then wife Margherita Buy, was a big hit in Italy and received many award nominations including several for Rubini who was now being heralded as a major talent behind, as well as in front of, the camera.

Rubini would win a Donatello, a Film Critics and a Venice Film award for his work on La Stazione, making his second film as a writer and director one of the most anticipated Italian films of the early nineties. He would make the surprising choice of attempting a modern noir, a film centered on memory, obsession and betrayel starring one of his favorite actresses, Nastassja Kinski.

It had been five years since Kinski had had a solid commercial and popular success in Europe, with 1987’s Maladie d’Amour being the nearest, and working with a hot young talent like Rubini seemed to be just what her career needed. Rubini greatly admired the German icon and handed her a solid script filled with more emotion and heart than any she had been given since Maladie d’Amour and under his direction she would turn in one of her great performances, one that should have brought her a lot more attention than it did when it was released back in 1992.

The Blonde centers on a lonely young man named Tommaso (Rubini in an expertly realized performance) who accidently hits a young woman named Christine with his car late one night. The accident causes Christine temporary amnesia and the two set out to find her identity which slowly but surely spells disaster for both of them.
With an expert script filled with subtle character observations and expert plotting, Rubini’s The Blonde is one of the great modern noirs. It’s an intense little film about characters obsessing over every little detail in their lives only to find that the only thing they really have in common is the one thing that awaits all of us.

The Blonde is a tricky film that demands a couple of viewings to really find your way into its mysteries and complexities. On first viewing it can seem a bit slight but there is a lot of subtext here and kudos to Rubini for having the guts to make an overly ambitious film in a relatively laid back manner. His script, direction and acting are top of the line and The Blonde is one of the great overlooked Italian films of the nineties.

Kinski and Rubini are joind by a couple of real Italian genre film favorites including Veronica Lazar (a talented actress who worked with Bertolucci, Argento, Antonioni and Fulci!), Umberto Raho (instantly recognizeable from many seventies favorites) and French star Florence Guerin (featured in Franco’s Faceless among many others). The relatively small cast Rubini chose handles the material excellently without exception but the film ultimately belongs to Kinski, who gives one of the most emotive and emotional performances in what is one of the trickiest roles of her career.

Behind the camera Rubini assembled an impressive number of famed veterans including Wim Wenders composer Jurgen Knieper for the score, Marco Ferreri favorite Nicoletta Ercola for the costume designe and former Pasolini cameraman Alessio Gelsini Torresi for the film’s striking and shadowed cinematography (unfortunately done no favors on the disappointing DVD release).

With all of the talent in front of and behind the camera, The Blonde should have done incredibly well when it was initially released in 1992 but distribution problems plagued it from the get-go. It performed reasonably well in Italy with a mostly solid critical backing but it took years for the film to crawl around Europe and more than a decade before it finally reached America as a poor full frame DVD that slipped out of print almost as soon as it was released.

Rubini has continued acting, writing and directing since The Blonde’s release and has garnered much acclaim from the critics and public alike, with his 2006 film La Terra gaining numerous Italian film awards as well as becoming a solid financial hit. His most recent film Colpo d’occhio is currently playing in Europe and has garnered a lot of controversy while dividing both the critics and public. He is probably best known here in the States for his roles in Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004).

Nastassja Kinski would make one more film in Italy, 1992’s In Camera Mia, before reuniting with her first mentor Wim Wender’s for 1993’s Faraway, So Close. The Blonde remains the only film she ever shot with Rubini, and it also contains one of her best (if little seen) performances. As I mentioned, the film is out of print on DVD but copies can still be found for reasonable prices if one is so inclined to seek it out…which I wholeheartedly advise.

ScreenShots of the Day: The Blonde Wallpapers

2008-07-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the lack of updates recently. Nostalgia Kinky is ready to roar back though and my review for The Blonde as well as almost forty exclusive screenshots will be posted soon. In the meantime here are two wallpapers from one of Nastassja's best films from the nineties.

Harem Cards

2008-07-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

Soundtrack Playlist Added

2008-06-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have added a LastFM playlist just to the right for visitors here. It contains several complete Nastassja Soundtracks (Stay as you are, Tess, Cat People, Paris Texas, The Claim) as well as tracks from Faraway so Close, Spring Symphony, One Night Stand and more. I will be adding more as I find them at LastFm and I hope they prove enjoyable to listen to while reading through the posts. Enjoy and let me know of any that I might have missed.

Screenshot of the Day: The Moon In The Gutter (1983)

2008-06-28T06:26:00.000-07:00