Until the End of the World

(In Memory of Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017) & Sam Shepard (1943-2017))

Directed by Wim Wenders and screenplay by Wenders and Peter Carey from a story by Wenders and Solveig Dommartin with ideas from Michael Almereyda, Until the End of the World is the story of a road trip involving two people as they drive around the world before it’s to end in the new millennium as a nuclear satellite is about to enter Earth. The film is considered the ultimate road film as it involve two people traveling through four continents carrying something that could help the world just as time is running out. Starring William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Sam Neill, Chishu Ryu, Lois Chiles, David Gulipill, Max von Sydow, Rudiger Volger, Ernie Dingo, and Jeanne Moreau. Until the End of the World is a sprawling and evocative film from Wim Wenders.

A nuclear satellite from India is malfunctioning as it is set to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere setting panic across the planet where a woman’s encounter with bank robbers and later a man on the run would take her to a journey around the world. It’s a film that is this massive journey in which a woman with self-destructive tendencies falls for this mysterious man she has met in the South of France as he would steal a cut of the money she’s gained for helping a couple of bank robbers as she would follow this man all over the world who is in trouble with the law. Amidst all of this is the idea of a world coming to an end as the world’s leaders try to figure out how to deal with the satellite that is to crash down on Earth and destroy civilization as it’s in the backdrop of this story of two people traveling around the world as one of them is carrying a machine that could help humanity.

The film’s screenplay Wim Wenders and Peter Carey is largely told from the perspective of the novelist Eugene Fitzpatrick (Sam Neill) who narrates the film from time to time as he reflects on the journey he would participate in as it relates to the protagonist in his girlfriend Claire Tourneur (Solveig Dommartin) who is this aimless party girl that is indifferent to what is happening in the world. Through a detour from a traffic jam, Claire would drive from Venice to Paris where her encounters with bank robbers in Raymond (Eddy Mitchell) and Chico (Chick Ortega) lead to a car crash as she would help them hide and given a cut of the money they stole unaware that there’s a tracking device in the bag she’s carrying. Upon getting her car repaired, she would meet this mysterious man named Trevor McPhee (William Hurt) who gets a ride to Paris as he would later steal a bit of the money she had prompting her to find him all over Europe for much of the film’s first act. The second act isn’t just a continuation of Tourneur following McPhee with the help of a private investigator in Philip Winter (Rudiger Volger) with Fitzgerald joining in the search later on. It’s about Tourneur falling for McPhee where Winter and Fitzgerald learn about his true identity and why he’s on the run.

Traveling to cities such as Lisbon, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, San Francisco, and eventually ending in the Australian outback, the film’s narrative showcase the search that Tourneur would endure where it’s not just this existential journey but also a way into a world that she might see for the last time as time is a factor in the film. The sense of the unknown about this nuclear satellite looms throughout the film as the film’s third act set in the Australian outback isn’t just about McPhee and his mission but the people he’s reaching out to in a scientist named Henry Farber (Max von Sydow) and Farber’s blind wife Edith (Jeanne Moreau). Especially at a time when the unthinkable has happened leading to those wondering how the end of the world could be the beginning of something new.

Wenders’ direction is definitely grand in terms of not just the ambition he took to shooting the film in different locations across four continents around the world. It’s a film that is constantly moving whether it’s by land, by air, or by sea as it play into a world that is doing what it needed to do despite the fact that a nuclear satellite is about to crash to hit the Earth’s atmosphere and land somewhere. Wenders would show this sense of impending doom in the background whether it’s on a TV program or on a newspaper as Tourneur is too distracted to notice what is happening as she is eager to find McPhee. While there are a lot of wide shots to establish some of the locations and places these characters go into. Wenders doesn’t make sure the different locations would deter from the story as there is an intimacy whether it’s through a small video camera that Tourneur would carry from her home movie in China or some of the scenes during the third act on the Australian outback.

Wenders’ direction also has this sense of style in the close-ups and medium shots while giving each location its own mood and visual style as the scenes in Tokyo and rural Japan showcase something quiet and transcendence where Tourneur knows who McPhee really is and why he’s on the run as he is also dealing blindness due to the machine he’s carrying. The machine itself is something that would showcase what McPhee is trying to do for the Farbers as it is a very personal mission for McPhee as he hopes the machine would do some good for humanity. The third act in Australia which takes place just after the event that is described as the end of the world in terms of what happens to technology and all of the things that used to run the world. There is a moment where amidst this sense of the unknown about whether the world is gone after all or nothing has happened. There is a scene just before the end of the 20th Century is where this mixture of Aborigines and foreigners are just playing and listening to music as they don’t dwell into the loss of technology or the need to communicate with people from the outside world. It is a very brief moment of pure simplicity and community that showcases what humanity could be as all of the characters who were part of Tourneur’s journey interact as one.

Yet, it’s a very brief moment that is followed by humanity’s own flaw as it play into the need to start again with technology as it play into not just the sense of immorality but also loss. It’s where Fitzgerald becomes the protagonist of sorts where he goes through his own development from being a lover of Tourneur obsessed with going after her into finding himself. He would observe into what Farber has created that leave Tourneur and McPhee not just lost but also display something that Wenders sees is absolutely dead-on about what the world would become in the 21st Century. It’s where the protagonists are once again traveling but instead in reality, it’s through the mind where they become completely lost and they need to go into a journey of self-discovery. Overall, Wenders creates a majestic yet intoxicating film about a couple going on a worldwide journey just before the world is about to end.

Cinematographer Robby Muller does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of natural lighting for many of the exteriors in the different locations with some lighting for some of the interior scenes including the party at Venice or the hotels in Lisbon, Berlin, and Moscow. Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work with the editing with its usage of jump-cuts in some places as well as montages to play into Fitzgerald’s narration and other elements to help play into the sense of movement of the film. Production designers Sally Campbell and Thierry Flamand, with set decorators Ze Branco and Tim Ferrier as well as a quartet of art directors in Steve Burns, Claudio Carrer, Ian Gracie, and Jan Schlubach, do fantastic work with the look of some of the places the characters go to such as the party in Venice, Fitzgerald’s Parisian apartment, the different hotel rooms through the different locations, and Farber’s lab inside the caves in Australia.

Costume designer Montserrat Casanova does superb work with the costumes from the array of dresses that Tourneur wears including the black wig as well as some of the stylish clothes the men wear throughout the film. The special effects work of Frank Schlegel is terrific for the look of the visuals from the machines that McPhee is carrying as well as what Farber is displaying from the big televisions to the computers at the lab. The sound work of Jean-Paul Mugel is amazing for the atmosphere of the locations as well as the sound of radios, televisions, and vehicles to create something natural and engaging. The film’s music by Graeme Revell is incredible for its mixture of jazz, ambient, and electronic music to play into this idea of a music of the future as it play into the sense of the unknown while the film’s music soundtrack features a diverse collection of acts and artists who all provide their own ideas of the music of the future. Among these acts and artists in the film’s soundtrack include music from Talking Heads, U2, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Neneh Cherry, Jane Sibbery and k.d. lang, Daniel Lanois, R.E.M., Can, T-Bone Burnett, Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith with Fred “Sonic” Smith, Crime & the City Solution, and Julee Cruise.

The film’s marvelous cast include an array of appearances and small roles from Adelle Lutz as a friend of Tourneur in Makiko, Ernie Dingo as a detective trying to find McPhee, Ernest Berk and Christine Oesterlein as relatives of Farber, Allen Garfield as a used car salesman in San Francisco, Lauren Graham (not the actress of Gilmore Girls fame) as Farber’s granddaughter, Jimmy Little as an Aboriginal assistant of Farber in Peter, Justine Saunders as Edith’s caretaker Maisie, Kylie Belling as an Aboriginal doctor who carries a radiation detector, Kuniko Miyake as a Japanese innkeeper, and Eddy Mitchell as a French bank robber who gets wounded during the escape as he thanks Tourneur for helping him. Chick Ortega is terrific as Chico as a French bank robber who befriends Tourneur as he would follow her around the world through his tracking device while aspires to be a drummer while Chishu Ryu is superb as a Japanese innkeeper who specializes in making herbs as he would help McPhee with his eye site.

Lois Chiles is wonderful as Farber’s daughter Elsa who would provide the images key to what Edith would see while David Gulipill is fantastic as an Aboriginal man named David who is a family friend that would help McPhee reach his destination. Rudiger Volger is excellent as the private detective Philip Winters as a man who specializes in finding missing children as he helps Tourneur find McPhee in the film’s first act only to discover his true identity where he and Fitzgerald would follow them. Max von Sydow is brilliant as Henry Farber as a scientist trying to create a machine that would allow the blind to see things based on memories only to go way over his head with his ambitions. Jeanne Moreau is radiant as Edith Farber as the scientist’s blind wife who laments over the experiment she is taking part of as well as wondering if what she’s participating will do any good for the world.

Sam Neill is amazing as Eugene Fitzgerald as the film’s narrator who is a lover of Tourneur that copes with the journey Tourneur is enduring as well as his own writer’s block as he tries to write a novel only to find something more in Australia as he would embrace the simplicity of life while watch Tourneur and McPhee descend toward their obsession with technology. William Hurt is incredible as Trevor McPhee as a mysterious man that is on the run from the law as he is carrying a machine from Farber where he would cope with blindness and the demands of his mission as it’s a very low-key yet engaging performance from Hurt. Finally, there’s Solveig Dommartin in a phenomenal performance as Claire Tourneur as an aimless party girl who embarks on a journey that would change her life as she copes with the things she is seeing as it’s this entrancing yet offbeat performance from Dommartin.

Until the End of the World is a tremendous film from Wim Wenders. Featuring a great ensemble cast, gorgeous visuals set on many different locations, a riveting story on a world coming to an end, and an exhilarating music soundtrack. It’s a film, in its full-length near five-hour run time, truly lives up to the idea of the ultimate road movie in a lot of ways while also predicting what would happen during the end of the world as well as humanity becoming reliant on technology to find something that can’t be found. In the end, Until the End of the World is a magnificent film from Wim Wenders.

Wim Wenders Films: (Summer in the City) - (The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty) - (The Scarlet Letter (1973 film)) - Alice in the Cities - Wrong Move - Kings of the Road - The American Friend - (Lightning Over Water) - (Room 666) - (Hammett) - (The State of Things) – Paris, Texas - (Tokyo-Ga) – Wings of Desire - (Notebook on Cities and Clothes) - (Faraway, So Close!) - (Lisbon Story) - (Beyond the Clouds) - (A Trick of Light) - (The End of Violence) - (Buena Vista Social Club) - (The Million Dollar Hotel) - (The Soul of a Man) - (Land of Plenty) - (Don’t Come Knocking) - (The Palermo Shooting) - (Pina) - Salt of the Earth - (Every Thing Will Be Fine) – (The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez) – (Submergence) - (Pope Francis: A Man of His Word)

© thevoid99 2017

Australia (2008 film)

Directed by Baz Luhrmann and screenplay by Luhrmann, Ronald Harwood, Stuart Beattie, and Richard Flanagan from a story by Luhrmann, Australia is the story of an Englishwoman who travels to Australia to discover her husband’s death as she takes over the cattle business with a help of a drover while taking care of a half-Aborigine boy. Set in the late 1930s to early 1940s during the start of World War II, the film is an epic story of how a woman tries to take control of her destiny while dealing with forces that are trying to stop her as she tries to protect a young boy. Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Brandon Walters, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Ben Mendelsohn, Jack Thompson, and David Gulpilil. Australia is a grand though underwhelming film from Baz Luhrmann.

The film revolves around a period in time where half-Aborigine children, known as the Stolen Generations, were taken away from their families by the governments of the early 20th Century to be integrated with white societies. Notably as it has a plot revolving around a boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters) who is half-Aborigine where he intrigues an aristocratic Englishwoman in Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) who later becomes the maternal figure he needed following the death of his mother. While she embraces the new world she has arrived into as well as gaining the trust of a hardened yet kind man known as the Drover (Hugh Jackman). She also deals with all sorts of trials and tribulations relating to her burgeoning cattle business as well as witnessing the bombing of Darwin in 1942 where many characters deal with its impact and near-tragedy.

The screenplay that Luhrmann and his co-writers create is very multi-layered with lots of storylines revolving around many characters set in the span of three years from 1939 to 1942. While there are moments in the story that do falter a bit such as the mystery into the death of Lady Ashley’s husband where it is obvious into what really happened. It does play into the arrival of this woman who comes into a land that she has no knowledge about as she is seen as an outsider of sorts. By discovering why her husband went to the Australian outback which involves cattle, she decides to take control by protecting Nullah who had been mistreated by the very cruel Neil Fletcher who had been working for the cattle baron Lesley “King” Carney (Bryan Brown). With the help of the Drover and various other people, the film’s first act is about Lady Ashley’s arrival into Australia and becoming the competition that Carney tries to avoid.

The second act isn’t just about Lady Ashley’s romance with the Drover and the brief happiness she has with him and Nullah but also revelations into her husband’s death and what Aborigine children have to do which also plays into the presence of Nullah’s grandfather King George (David Gulpilil) whom Fletcher claimed had killed Lady Ashley’s husband. The third act takes place in 1942 during World War II where Lady Ashley, the Drover, and Nullah are separated as Nullah was taken to a remote island with other half-Aborigine children as Lady Ashley vows to get him back as she thinks of him as her son. The script does allow its principle characters like Lady Ashley and the Drover to develop where the latter is also an outsider because of his friendship with the Aborigine as he had a wife who was Aborigine.

While some of the ideas about the attitude towards Aborigines at the time is a bit heavy-handed in the story, it does play into the fact that both the Drover and Lady Ashley are outsiders who are willing to do right for those people despite what society thinks. The antagonist in Neil Fletcher is a conniving individual who does have a secret of his own though it is one aspect of the character that doesn’t work where it is also obvious. Still, there is something about Fletcher as he’s character that audiences love to hate as he often spouts the words, “pride is not power”.

Luhrmann’s direction is definitely grand in the way he presents Australia during that time period where it is a mixture of a lot of genres ranging from the sweeping romantic epic, the costume dramas, some comedy, the war film, and elements of the western. It’s a film that is all over the place where it can be called a mess a times but it makes up for as Luhrmann aims to create a film that recalls the epics of the past. Shooting on location in Australia including the Never Never desert in the Outback, Luhrmann uses the locations to present something that is visually-astonishing as well as epic to express how vast the land is. The place itself is just as much as a character of the film as everything else.

There are also moments in the film when Luhrmann knows where he doesn’t need to be extravagant where he does keep things simple in the way the characters interact with each other. Luhrmann does create some shots that are filled with a lot of lively moments and surprises to amp up the romance or the drama including some very harrowing scenes of the Darwin bombings. Though there are bits of the film’s ending which are over-drawn, it does work to reinforce the idea of love and family that the three central characters need from one another. Overall despite some of its messy moments and a few flaws in the story, Luhrmann does create a very worthwhile and engaging film about love and identity.

Cinematographer Mandy Walker does amazing work with the film‘s very gorgeous and colorful cinematography from the look of the rugged landscape with its naturalistic look to the more stylish scenes in some of the interiors and exterior settings in Darwin. Editors Dody Dorn and Michael McCusker do excellent work with the editing as it plays to an air of style with some rhythmic cuts for some of the film’s action moments as well as some montages to help establish a few key moments in the story. Production/costume designer Catherine Martin, with set decorator Beverley Dunn and supervising art director Ian Gracie, does fantastic work with the set pieces to recreate the look of late 1930s Darwin with its bars as well as the home Lady Ashley has in the Outback while the costumes that Martin creates are just beautiful to play up the evolving style of Lady Ashley along with the rugged look of the Drover who also shows that he has a very classy side to himself.

The film’s visual effects by Chris Godfrey does wonderful work with some of the film‘s visual effects for the extravagant Darwin bombing scene as well as a few visual effects shots in the Outback. Sound designer Wayne Pushley does superb work with the sound to capture some of the tense atmosphere in the Outback along with more layered sound work in the Darwin bombing scenes. The film’s music by David Hirschfelder is terrific for its use of sweeping orchestral arrangements and bombast along with some serene moments that includes the use of Somewhere In the Rainbow that becomes a key piece for Nullah and Lady Ashley. The soundtrack consists of music from that period with its mix of jazz, Australian folk, and pop along with new songs by Elton John and Angela Little to play up the sense of adventure and romance in the film.

The casting by Nikki Barrett and Ronna Kress is brilliant as it features a large collective of actors for this film. The film features appearances from Bill Hunter as a skipper, Barry Otto as a government representative overseeing the cattle industry, Ursula Yovich as Nullah’s mother, Ray Barrett as Lady Ashley’s British counsel, Sandy Gore as King Carney’s wife Gloria, Yuen Wah as a Cantonese chef living in Faraway Downs, Jacek Koman as the Faraway Downs saloon keeper Ivan, and Tony Barry as Sgt. Callahan who heads the Northern Territory police unit. Essie Davis is very good as King Carney’s daughter Catherine who is an admirer of Lady Ashley while Jack Thompson is quite funny and excellent as Lady Ashley’s alcoholic accountant Kipling Flynn. David Ngoombujarra is wonderful as the Drover’s brother-in-law Magarri who helps him out while Ben Mendelsohn is terrific as the army officer Captain Dutton who becomes a close ally for Lady Ashley.

David Gulpilil is amazing as the mysterious Aborigine King George who aids Lady Ashley and the Drover through the Outback despite his distrust towards the whites. Bryan Brown is great as the cattle baron King Carney as a man eager to have a monopoly in the cattle industry. Brandon Walters is remarkable as the half-Aborigine boy Nullah who becomes the one person in Lady Ashley’s life to make her stay in Australia as he also helps her become a rich cattle baron. David Wenham is superb as the very slimy and conniving Neil Fletcher who tries to do whatever to bring down Lady Ashley.

Hugh Jackman is marvelous as the Drover as a man who knows Australia better than anyone as he comes off as a very rugged yet stubborn man but also one who is very kind and can become a gentleman. Nicole Kidman is radiant as Lady Sarah Ashley as a woman who arrives to the country as an outsider only to become a more proud and fierce woman eager to lead and become someone not to be messed with. The scenes with Kidman and Jackman are just glorious to watch as the two have great chemistry together as they are among one of the film’s highlights.

Despite some of its shortcomings in its story, Australia is a still a visually-gorgeous and stellar film from Baz Luhrmann. Thanks to the leading performances of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman along with some amazing technical work and a supporting cast. The film is definitely a worthwhile film that has a lot to offer though it is a bit of a mess at times. In the end, Australia is a very good film from Baz Luhrmann.

Baz Luhrmann Films: Strictly Ballroom - William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet - Moulin Rouge - The Great Gatsby (2013 film) - The Auteurs #23: Baz Luhrmann

© thevoid99 2013

Walkabout

Based on the novel by James Vance Marshall, Walkabout is the story about a teenage girl and her younger brother who find themselves in the Australian Outback unsure of how they will survive only to meet a young Aboriginal boy who helps them. Directed by Nicolas Roeg and screenplay by Edward Bond, the film is an exploration into a world outside of the city and into the unforgiving world that is the Australian Outback. Starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, and David Gulpilil. Walkabout is a majestic film from Nicolas Roeg.

For the Aborigine, a walkabout is rite of passage they must once they reach past the age of adolescence by walking into the Australian desert for six months. In this film, it is about this Aborigine (David Gulpilil) who encounters a teenage girl (Jenny Agutter) and her younger brother (Luc Roeg) who are lost in the desert just after their father had gone insane and killed himself. For this young woman and her little brother, they have to endure a world that is completely outside of civilization only to get help from this Aborigine to trek through the Outback to return to civilization. Though the two Australians and Aborigine don’t understand each other, the journey they all take would be something that none of them would forget.

Edward Bond’s screenplay doesn’t feature much of a plot since it is about these two Australians who live in the city as they encounter a young Aborigine who helps them trek through the Outback. Yet, the script offers something much more where these two young Australians encounter a world that is out of their comfort zone as they have to deal with the harsh world of nature. With the help of this young Aborigine, they manage to survive the world of nature while discovering something that is very different from civilization. Still, there are elements of that civilized world that is prevalent as the one link the girl and her brother have is a radio.

Nicolas Roeg’s direction is very stylized in some of the presentation that he creates yet he keeps things simple and naturalistic in the way many of the scenes in the Outback are presented. A lot of it includes some very intense close-ups of the characters as well as striking shots of the locations in the wide shots to capture the beauty of the Outback. While there are elements in nature that is cruel, it is still nothing compared to the chaotic world of civilization. Still, Roeg isn’t interesting in fleshing out any kind of visual exposition on what world is better but rather showcase something that is different from what the civilized world have to endure. Even in moments of violence where this young Aborigine has to kill animals to survive where Roeg uses some grainy close-ups to capture this violence yet it is presented with more brutality when the Aborigine sees a couple of hunters do it with rifles as opposed to a spear.

With Roeg also serving as the film’s cinematographer, with some additional work from Tony Richmond, there is a naturalist look to many of the film’s Outback scenes as it is presented with an elegance that feels real. Since the film is also about a meeting of two different worlds, there is also an element of sexual discovery as it concerns the young girl and the Aborigine since there’s a scene of the girl swimming naked in a watering hole while the Aborigine later catches a glimpse of the girl dressing. They’re intrigued by each other but neither of them really know how to express one another. Even as they continue their journey with the little boy as there’s a lot around them that could take the girl and her brother back to civilization. Roeg’s direction also has this element of dreaminess in his montages to play out a world that seemed to have lost some innocence as it does add to a sense of melancholia towards its ending. Overall, Roeg creates a very exotic and hypnotic film about a journey into the world outside of civilization.

Editor Antony Gibbs and Alan Pattillo do amazing work with the editing by creating dazzling rhythmic cuts and stylish montages to play out the contrast between the civilized world and nature as well as some inspiring use of montages and freeze-frames to establish some key moments in the film. Production designer Brian Eatwell and art director Terry Gough do brilliant work with some of the film‘s minimal set pieces from the abandoned home the trio encounter to some of the villages nearby in their journey.

Location sound mixer Barry Brown does excellent work with the editing in creating some unique collages between the differing worlds of civilization and the natural world as well as scenes with the radio. The film’s music by John Barry is fantastic for its mixture of lush orchestral music to play out some of the film’s beauty as well as some intense moments for the drama as well as the use of didgeridoos to establish that harsh world that is nature. The film’s music also includes some pop music of the times including a song by Rod Stewart that is played on the radio.

The film’s cast includes some memorable small roles from John Meillon as the girl and boy’s father as well as Barry Donnelly, Noeline Brown, and Carlo Manchini as a group of scientists doing research in the Outback. The performances of David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, and Jenny Agutter are truly extraordinary for their naturalistic performances with Gulpilil as the more ambiguous of the three while Roeg is the more innocent of the three since he is a child. In Agutter, she displays a radiance to her character as a teenage girl in transition into becoming a woman while facing the reality that is brought upon her.

Walkabout is an outstanding film from Nicolas Roeg that features mesmerizing performances from Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, and David Gulpilil. The film is definitely one of the most entrancing features that displays a world in which two young people have to grow up to encounter the harsh world of nature while getting help from a young Aborigine who has no understanding of the civilized world. For audiences new to Nicolas Roeg, the film is definitely one of his most essential works in the way he captures the beauty that is the Outback. In the end, Walkabout is an incredible film from Nicolas Roeg.

Nicolas Roeg Films: Performance - (Glastonbury Fayre) - Don’t Look Now - The Man Who Fell to Earth - (Bad Timing) - (Eureka) - Insignificance - (Castaway (1986 film)) - (Aria-Un ballo in maschera) - (Track 29) - (The Witches) - (Heart of Darkness (1993 film)) - (Two Deaths) - (Full Body Massage) - (Samson and Delilah (1996 film)) - (Puffball)

© thevoid99 2013