2018 Blind Spot Series: Kings of the Road

Written and directed by Wim Wenders, Im Lauf der Zeit (Kings of the Road) is the story of a film projector repairman who saves the life of a psychologist from an accident as the two travel through Germany from one rural movie theater to another. The film is the third and final film of a thematic trilogy set on the road as it play into two men bonding in the course of their journey while finding solace in cinema. Starring Rudiger Volger, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer, Rudolf Schundler, Marquad Bohm, Dieter Traier, and Franziska Stommer. Im Lauf der Zeit is a ravishing and exhilarating film from Wim Wenders.

Traveling through small villages and towns in West Germany, a film projector repairman meets a depressed psychologist who crashed his car into a river as they both travel and deal with their lives. It’s a film that does take a simple premise of two men traveling as they stop at cinemas to repair movie projectors as well as ponder about the world around them. Wim Wenders’ screenplay largely focuses on the journey of these two men where the film projector repairman Bruno Winter (Rudiger Volger) is traveling village to village to fix projectors at small cinemas in these villages where he watches psychologist Robert Lander (Hanns Zischler) crash his car into a river in a half-hearted suicide attempt as he’s reeling from his break-up with his wife. Lander joins Winter on the trip through West Germany from village to village as they go to cinemas to fix film projectors as the cinemas are a place of importance for these small towns still dealing with the guilt of war. Along the way, the two would meet individuals while also going on a separate path where Lander visits his father (Rudolf Schundler) while Winter meets a cinema cashier in Pauline (Lisa Kreuzer).

Wenders’ direction is definitely astonishing in terms of the locations he sets the film at where it’s in these small villages in West Germany where its destination is towards the East Germany border as the country was divided during the Cold War. Shot around the summer to the early fall, Wenders would emphasize this air of simplicity in these small towns that are definitely disconnected from the modernist big cities that have moved away from the past. The locations would add to this world that hasn’t progressed much yet have films as an escape from modern-day society where Winter would talk to a cinema owner early in the film about films while Winter is fixing a projector. Once Lander joins him, the two would look into their surroundings while meeting people on the journey as it play into not just loneliness but also loss which would force Winter and Lander to go on a separate path where they would rejoin each other during the film’s second act.

Wenders’ direction also has this looseness in the compositions he creates in the usage of the wide and medium shots to get a scope of the locations while creating this amazingly rich sequence of Winter and Lander riding on a motorcycle. There are some close-ups in the film but Wenders is more about creating these striking images of these two men being one with their surroundings as well as play into their own melancholia about their lives. Even in the third act where they’re in a shack just near the East-West German border as it adds to the sense of the unknown but also the realization that these two men are both dealing with a loneliness in their lives as their trip is about to end. Overall, Wenders crafts a riveting and evocative film about two different men who travel through West Germany to see a world that is changing and unable to keep up with the modern world.

Cinematographers Robby Muller and Martin Schafer do amazing work with the film’s black-and-white cinematography to play into the gorgeous look of the daytime scenes with its approach to natural lighting along with low-key lights for some of the interior/exterior scenes at night. Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work with the editing with its usage of dissolves, transition wipes, and jump-cuts as it help play into journey on the road as well as the low-key moments during a few stops in the journey. Production designers Heidi Ludi and Bernd Hirskorn do fantastic work with the interior of Winter’s van as well as the interiors in some of the cinemas that Winter and Lander go to.

The sound work of Martin Muller and Bruno Bollhalder is superb for its sound as it play into the natural elements as well as how a film project has to sound like. The film’s music by Axel Linstadt is incredible for its blues-based score with elements of folk and country as it adds to this energy and wonderment of the road while the soundtrack features music by Chris Montez, Heinz, and Roger Miller as it is one of the film’s highlights.

The film’s wonderful cast include some notable small roles from Wim Wenders as a film viewer, Patrick Kreuzer as a young boy Lander meets late in the film, Franziska Stommer as a cinema owner that Winter converses with in the film’s beginning, Dieter Traier as a garage owner, Michael Weidermann as a schoolteacher, Peter Kaiser as a film projector who is more concerned masturbating to the film than showing the film properly, Marquad Bohm as a man who lost his wife as Lander helps him, Rudolf Schundler as Lander’s father who works at a printing press as he laments over the loss of his wife, and Lisa Kreuzer as a cashier Winter meets in town whom he spends the night with as they deal with the declining world of cinemas in small villages in Germany. The duo of Rudiger Volger and Hanns Zischler are phenomenal in their respective roles as Bruno Winter and Robert Lander as two men who go on the road as they deal with loneliness and lack of companionship as well as their surroundings with Volger as someone who loves cinema as well as his work despite the decline of cinemas in small villages while Lander is more low-key as a man dealing with depression as well as his own issues as both Volger and Zischler are major highlights of the film.

Im Lauf der Zeit is a tremendous film from Wim Wenders that features incredible performances from Rudiger Volger and Hanns Zischler. Featuring a brilliant ensemble cast, beautiful photography, a minimalist story, a killer music score and soundtrack, and gorgeous locations through rural West Germany. It is a film that play into the idea of traveling on the road to see a world that is having a hard time adjusting to change while being an adventure that is more about personal than physical. In the end, Im Lauf der Zeit 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 - 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) – Until the End of the World - (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 2018

2018 Blind Spot Series: Wrong Move

Based on the novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Falsche Bewegung (Wrong Move) is the story of a writer who leaves his hometown where he meets other travels to seek some inspiration as well as trying to create a new identity. Directed by Wim Wenders and screenplay by Wenders and Peter Handke, the film is the second film of a trilogy of road movies where a man tries to find new adventures on the road. Starring Rudiger Volger, Hanna Schygulla, Hans Christian Blech, Ivan Desny, Marianne Hoppe, Peter Kern, Lisa Kreuzer, and introducing Nastassja Kinski. Falsche Bewegung is an entrancing yet somber film from Wim Wenders.

Trying to find inspiration as a writer, the film follows a man who decides to leave his hometown where he travels through Germany where he meets other travelers during his journey as he questions his own existence. It’s a film with a simple yet minimalist premise that doesn’t have much plot yet it is more of a study of isolation and a journey to find meaning through traveling across the country. The film’s screenplay by Wim Wenders and Peter Handke follows the writer Wilhelm Meister (Rudiger Volger) who is hoping to create something yet feels stuck living with his mother (Marianne Hoppe) where he decides to go on a trip around Germany for ideas.

The script does have a structure as it play into Meister’s trip as the first act is him meeting fellow travelers in an actress Therese Farner (Hanna Schygulla), an aging Olympian in Laertes (Hans Christian Blech), and his teenage mute companion in Mignon (Nastassja Kinski). They’re later joined by an Austrian in Bernhard Landau (Peter Kern) where the second act has them staying at the home of an industrialist (Ivan Desny) who is grieving the loss of his wife while the third act is set in Frankfurt as it would play into Meister’s sense of isolation with a world that is becoming modernized.

Wenders’ direction is definitely intoxicating for the compositions he creates throughout the course of the film. Notably in the usage of the wide shots where it opens with a helicopter shot of Gluckstadt as it’s raining to play into a world that is quaint and has a traditional look which isn’t an environment for Meister to find some sort of inspiration. The usage of the wide and medium shots doesn’t just play into the moments of traveling where Meisler travels to Bonn via train with Laertes and Mignon but also in this mixture of a world that has old traditional buildings mixed in with something that is new yet retaining its forests and natural settings. Notably in a scene where Meister, Farner, Laertes, Mignon, and Landau are all walking on a roadside mountain looking at the surroundings where Wenders would create these gorgeous images that has Meister and Laertes conversing in the foreground in a medium shot while everything else is happening in the background in a wide shot.

Wenders’ direction also uses the medium shots and close-ups for the scenes set inside the train as well as some of the moments where the characters interact including a scene with the industrialist who talks about his own sense of loss. These conversations and intimate scenes that include a strange encounter with Mignon add to Meister’s fascination with humanity as he tries to write things down. Particularly his conversation with Laertes who is a mysterious individual who ran at the 1936 Olympics while also having a darker past which would disturb Meister who becomes troubled by how Laertes uses Mignon. The film’s third act set in Frankfurt has Wenders showcase a world that is different from Bonn and Gluckstadt which is chaotic and filled with lots of people living in this rapid-pace society that would overwhelm Meister to the point that he questions his existence and worth. Overall, Wenders crafts a ravishing yet haunting film about a man’s journey through Germany in an attempt to find inspiration and an identity.

Cinematographer Robby Muller does amazing work with the film’s colorful cinematography as it captures the beauty of the locations in the exterior settings including the city lights at night along with low-key lights for some of the interiors. Editors Peter Przygodda and Barbara von Weitershausen do brilliant work with its usage of jump-cuts and dissolves to help play into the sense of wonderment that occurs throughout the film. Wardrobe by Heidi Ludi does nice work with the costumes with Mignon being the most fashionable from her colorful sweater and overalls that she wears every day as well as what she wears at a house. The sound work of Martin Muller and Klaus Peter Kaiser is superb for its natural approach to sound as how noises sound from afar to the sounds of the city. The film’s music by Jurgen Knieper is brilliant for its low-key yet plaintive score with its mixture of strings and guitars to play into the melancholia while the soundtrack features bits of classical music and a rock song from the Troggs.

The film’s wonderful cast include a few notable small roles from Marianne Hoppe as Wilhelm’s mother and Lisa Kreuzer as Wilhelm’s girlfriend Janine. Ivan Desny is terrific as the industrialist as a man living in a castle that is in ruins as he deals with loss while welcoming the idea of people at his home for a day. Peter Kern is superb as Bernhard Landau as an Austrian traveling in Germany as he hears Meister recite poetry as he wants to be a poet where he joins them on the journey through the country. Hans Christian Blech is fantastic as Laertes as a former Olympian with a dark past as he works as a con artist where he copes with his ailing health and the changes around the world. 

Nastassja Kinski is brilliant as Mignon as a teenage mute street performer who never says a word yet manages to do a lot in terms of her physicality as well as display a complex innocence to her character. Hanna Schygulla is amazing as Therese Farner as an actress traveling through Germany as she is returning home to Frankfurt while dealing with the demands of her job. Finally, there’s Rudiger Volger in an excellent performance as Wilhelm Meister as an aspiring writer trying to find inspiration through this trip through Germany where he deals with his surroundings as well as questioning his work and identity as it’s one of his finest performances.

Falsche Bewegung is an incredible film from Wim Wenders. Featuring a phenomenal cast, entrancing visuals, an intoxicating music soundtrack, and themes of identity and loneliness on the road. It’s a film that explores a group of people traveling through Germany as they deal with themselves and their environments on a trip to the unknown. In the end, Falsche Bewegung is a remarkable 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 - 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) – Until the End of the World - (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 2018

2018 Blind Spot Series: Alice in the Cities

Directed by Wim Wenders and written by Wenders and Veith von Furstenberg, Alice in den Stadten (Alice in the Cities) is the story of a German journalist driving through America struggling with his assignment as he later meets a young girl whom he takes back home to Germany. The first film in a trilogy of films relating to the road, the film is an exploration of a man exploring his surroundings while dealing with the loneliness of traveling. Starring Rudiger Vogler, Yella Rottlander, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Kochl, Ernest Boehm, Sam Presti, Lois Moran, and Didi Petrikat. Alice in den Stadten is an evocative and rapturous film from Wim Wenders.

The film is about a German journalist’s journey from America and returning home to Germany with a young girl as his traveling companion after her mother had abandoned her when they decided to return to Germany. At first, the journalist and young girl aren’t fond of each other but then become friends as they try to find the home of the young girl’s grandmother. It’s a film with a simple premise that play into a man trying to connect with his surroundings for his job only to end up with nothing as he decides to go back home. The film’s screenplay by Wim Wenders and Veith von Furstenberg follow the trip that journalist Philip Winter (Rudiger Volger) is taking through America as he finds the whole trip unfulfilling where he misses hid deadline and decides to return to Germany.

While stopping in New York City to meet with his editor, Winter meets a woman in Lisa (Lisa Kreuzer) and her daughter Alice (Yella Rottlander) who both are trying to return to Germany but an air controller strike forces the three to take a flight to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, Lisa stays behind to deal with a lover claiming she would meet them in Amsterdam where Winter and Alice both realize that she isn’t coming to Amsterdam. This prompts Winter and Alice to travel from Amsterdam to Germany to drop Alice at the home of her grandmother where the journey has the two travel knowing each other with Winter finding fulfillment and Alice finding someone she can rely on.

Wenders’ direction is definitely intimate as the film is largely shot on black-and-white 16mm film while it would have something that is loose in its presentation as it is shot on various locations in America and Germany including New York City, Wuppertal, Ruhr, and Amsterdam. Wenders’ direction would have him create simple compositions to play into Winter’s own sense of isolation in America as he’s driving around the country to find a story that he can be enamored with. Wenders’ direction for the scenes on the road has this element of the unknown and bewilderment where Winter would shoot something on a Polaroid camera as a way to find something extraordinary in something ordinary. The usage of the wide and medium shots help play into the vast locations that occur in the film while also adding a sense of wonderment to the journey that Winter and Alice take upon their arrival to Amsterdam and later Germany. Wenders’ usage of close-ups and medium shots do play into the interaction as well as scenes inside a car or in a hotel room where they gaze into the world they’re in. Even as Winter and Alice find something in their journey that doesn’t have any planning or no sense of direction that makes it an immersive experience. Overall, Wenders crafts an intoxicating yet somber film about a journalist and a young girl taking a trip from America to Germany to take the latter home.

Cinematographer Robby Muller does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white 16mm photography as it has a sense of grit into the scenes at night as well as a beauty for many of the exterior locations in the film. Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work with the editing as it does have bits of style in the jump-cuts and fade-outs while much of it is straightforward. The sound work of Martin Muller is terrific for its natural approach to sound in the way trains and cars are heard outside of a room. The film’s music by Can is superb for its low-key yet plaintive folk-based score with elements of electronics while the music soundtrack on the film is presented in a diegetic form as it features music from Chuck Berry, Deep Purple, the Drifters, Canned Heat, the Rolling Stones, Count Five, Domenico Modungo, and Stories.

The film’s wonderful cast include some notable small roles and appearances from Chuck Berry as himself in a concert footage where Winter goes to his show, Lois Moran as an airport attendant, Edda Kochl as a friend of Winter in New York City in Angela, Sam Presti as a car dealer in New York City, Ernest Boehm as Winter’s publisher, and Didi Petrikat as a friend of Winter in Frankfurt. Lisa Kreuzer is brilliant as Alice’s mother Lisa as a woman wanting to go home yet is still enamored with the man she broke up with as she stays behind to try and repair that relationship. Yella Rottlander is amazing as Alice as a young girl who deals with being abandoned by her mother and dealing with being on the road and traveling where she finds some comfort in Winter whom she eventually grows to like. Finally, there’s Rudiger Volger in an incredible performance as Philip Winter as a journalist who is disillusioned by his trip to America prompting him to return home where his journey back home with this young girl would make him find the things he’s been searching for as well as find joy in his life.

Alice in den Stadten is a phenomenal film from Wim Wenders. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, a minimalist yet engaging story, and a superb soundtrack from Can. It’s a road film that play into the sense of wonderment by the environment two people are in as they try to return home while finding something else entirely along the way. In the end, Alice in den Stadten is a sensational film from Wim Wenders.

Wim Wenders Films: (Summer in the City) - (The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty) - (The Scarlet Letter (1973 film)) - 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) – Until the End of the World - (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 2018

The American Friend

Based on the novel Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith, Der amerikanische Freund (The American Friend) is the story of a con artist who convinces an ailing picture framer to take part in an assassination scheme. Written for the screen and directed by Wim Wenders, the film is an unusual noir film that play into a battle of wits that would eventually form into an unlikely friendship. Starring Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, and Gerard Blain. Der amerikanische Freund is a riveting and intoxicating film from Wim Wenders.

The film revolves around an American con artist, whose work in art forgeries, has him traveling to Hamburg where he meets a dying picture framer who he believes can carry an assassination job for another man. It’s a film that plays into a man who is trying to create a scheme about an assassination he wants to take place with another man as he feels slighted by this picture framer he met at an auction. Wim Wenders’ screenplay follows the world that Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is in where he cons people into buying paintings for lots of money when they’re actually forgeries as he goes to Hamburg from New York City to sell a forgery where the picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz) notices the painting is a forgery that people are over-paying for. Zimmerman knows who Ripley is as he refuses to shake his hand prompting Ripley to turn to a fellow criminal in Raoul Minot (Gerard Blain) to use Zimmerman as an assassin for a rival that Minot wants dead.

For Zimmerman who is dying from leukemia and is health is failing, he would receive news that his health is worsening where Minot approaches him about doing a job and would get certain health benefits and money in return. Yet, his wife Marianne (Lisa Kreuzer) is suspicious about Zimmerman’s trips to Paris and Munich as the story progresses with the former having him going to a hospital where they would send Marianne false medical notes which Zimmerman had no clue about thinking he would be fine. Upon the job that Minot would have Zimmerman do, it does give Zimmerman a sense of life although things become more complicated when Minot wants Zimmerman to do another job without Ripley’s knowledge who is becoming fond of Zimmerman.

Wenders’ direction does bear some visual style reminiscent of suspense and film noir yet much of what he does is straightforward. Shot mainly in Hamburg, Germany with additional locations in Munich, Paris, and New York City, Wenders would play into a world that is vast as it relates to the kind of operation that Ripley is involved as he lives mainly in New York City but went to Germany for business knowing he can make serious money through forged paintings made by his friend Derwatt (Nicholas Ray). Wenders’ direction definitely emphasizes some simple compositions in his approach to the framing where he does use close-ups and medium shots to play into the interaction between characters as well as the scenes at the metro in Paris where Zimmerman is going after his target as it’s dialogue-free in order to play up the suspense. Even in the way Wenders would move the camera to see Zimmerman and his target move from one metro train to another as well as the sense of geography in the metro stations with some wide shots to get an idea of where Zimmerman can kill this man though there’s cameras at the station that can see what is going on.

Wenders’ direction also maintains that intrigue into what is happening with the suspense as well as Ripley’s visits to Zimmerman’s shop as the former wants the latter to create a picture frame for one of the forgeries. Even as it play into a growing friendship between Ripley and Zimmerman as the former is aware of the latter’s illness and wants to help him as he would be involved in this second assassination that Zimmerman is supposed to carry out. The film’s third act has Wenders take great advantage of the locations and its scope where it does play into a friendship that is growing but also revelations about Zimmerman’s ailing health and Ripley’s own involvement into these assassinations prompting the latter to take control as well as to try and make things right for Zimmerman and his family. Overall, Wenders craft a gripping yet somber film about an American con artist who gets an ailing German picture framer to carry out an assassination.

Cinematographer Robby Muller does brilliant work with the film’s colorful and ravishing cinematography as its usage of natural lighting for some of the daytime exterior scenes as well as available and stylish light for some of the interiors including the scenes at night. Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work with the editing as it has elements of jump-cuts while mainly aiming for a straightforward approach with the rhythmic cuts to play into the suspenseful moments of the film. Art directors Heidi and Toni Ludi do fantastic work with the look of Ripley’s home as it has appliances that are covered while Zimmerman’s home doesn’t have much space though his son’s bedroom is full of cool toys and appliances.

Costume designer Isolde Nist does terrific work with the costumes from the denim-like look of Ripley with his cowboy hat to the more casual and reserved look of Zimmerman. Sound mixers Milan Bor, Max Galinsky, and Martin Muller do superb work with the sound in the way trains and ships sound from outside a building as well as what goes on inside the metro stations that help play into the suspenseful moments of the assassination sequence. The film’s music by Jurgen Knieper is incredible for its mixture of piano and strings that help play into the drama with its lush string arrangements that also add to the film’s suspense while its soundtrack features mainly music from the Kinks that is played in parts of the film.

The film’s wonderful cast feature some notable small roles from Andreas Dedecke as Jonathan and Marianne’s son Daniel, Sandy Whitelaw as a doctor trying to help Zimmerman, filmmakers Samuel Fuller and Jean Eustache in their respective cameo roles as an American gangster and a friendly man on the train, Lou Castel as Minot’s associate Rodolphe who makes sure Zimmerman does the job, and filmmaker Nicholas Ray in a small yet terrific performance as Ripley’s paint forger named Derwatt. Gerard Blain is fantastic as the French gangster Raoul Minot as a man that wants Ripley to kill a rival gangster only to turn to Zimmerman for the job and later trying to get Zimmerman to do more of his dirty work.

Lisa Kreuzer is brilliant as Zimmerman’s wife Marianne as a woman that is trying to understand where her husband is going believing something isn’t right upon getting messages from his doctor while is also suspicious about Ripley. Bruno Ganz is incredible as Jonathan Zimmerman as a picture framer who used to make forged paintings that is dealing with leukemia as he’s trying to cope with his illness as well as what he’s being forced to do where it’s a low-key yet somber performance that has Ganz sing a lot of British Invasion songs to deal with his situation. Finally, there’s Dennis Hopper in a phenomenal performance as Tom Ripley as this con man trying to get Zimmerman to kill as revenge for slighting him only to become fond of him as he later tries to help him as it’s an offbeat yet charismatic performance from Hopper.

Der amerikanische Freund is a sensational film from Wim Wenders that features great performances from Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz. Along with its ensemble cast, Robby Muller’s gorgeous photography, its study of manipulation and redemption, and its beautiful music score. It’s a film that doesn’t play with the conventions of suspense in order to study the motivations of two men who are connected by carrying out an assassination only to try to connect through the simple ideas of life. In the end, Der amerikanische Freund is a spectacular film from Wim Wenders.

Related: Purple Noon

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 - (Lightning Over Water) - (Room 666) - (Hammett) - (The State of Things) – Paris, Texas - (Tokyo-Ga) – Wings of Desire - (Notebook on Cities and Clothes) – Until the End of the World - (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 2018

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

2016 Cannes Marathon: The Salt of the Earth

(Winner of the Un Certain Regarde Special Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival)

Directed by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribiero Salgado and written by Wenders, Salgado, and David Rosier, The Salt of the Earth is a documentary about the famed Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado and his work as a photographer. The film explores his methods into his photography as well as the things he likes to shoot as a photographer that includes parts of the world that is cut off from society, nature, and harrowing images of war and despair. The result is an incredibly ravishing and haunting film from Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribiero Salgado.

Considered one of the greatest photographers in the world, Sebastiao Salgado is a man who is known for creating arresting images of the world as it is seen. Whether it is shooting a large group of people mining for gold in the middle of the Earth, images of indigenous people in parts of the world, refugees kicked out of their homes, or images of nature. Salgado’s work is regarded as high standards in the art of photography as Salgado’s son Juliano and filmmaker Wim Wenders follow him through his travels starting in 2011 in Indonesia where Salgado was putting the final touches of his near-decade photography project called Genesis about nature and the idea that the world could be resurrected. The film wouldn’t follow Salgado in his travels but also at the farm his father used to run where it once this paradise full of trees and wildlife until the 1990s where it had dried up and all of the trees were gone.

It was through the suggestion of his wife Lelia about replanting the trees and start from scratch that would give Salgado not just a sense of hope but a renewed optimist as a decade’s worth of rebuilding would have this land later become the Instituto Terra. With Juliano shooting the film with Hugo Barbier as co-cinematographer, the film is shot mostly in black-and-white as much of Salgado’s work is shot in black-and-white with some scenes set in color including the land that is the Instituto Terra. Wenders would also talk directly to Salgado as well as see some of the photos that he had shot as they would be the basis for his photo book Genesis. Those moments are intimate while Wenders would also get the help of editors Maxine Goedicke and Rob Myers to compile some of the photos including footage of the late 1990s of Salgado’s father talking about his farm and other rare footage. Most notably some of photos that Salgado would shoot in the mid-90s as it related to the genocide in Rwanda and the Balkan wars as they are quite graphic as it says a lot about the ugliness of humanity.

With the aid of sound designer Aymeric Devoldere, Wenders and Julian Ribiero Salgado would provide some textures into the photos of Salgado as well as mix it with Salgado‘s own narration on the photos and Wenders‘ commentary. The film’s music by Laurent Petitgand is fantastic for its mixture of world and ambient music to play into the many images that Salgado has taken including the ones that are simple that include his own family. Wenders and Julian Ribiero Salgado wouldn’t just create a portrait of a man who would see the world at is but also in what it could be again in an age of increasing modernism and neglect.

The Salt of the Earth is an incredible film from Wim Wenders and Julian Ribiero Salgado that is tremendous portrait of the famed photographer Sebastiao Salgado. It’s a film that isn’t just about a man looking at the world and its many wonders but also in the fact that those wonders can still be resurrected following moments of despair and tragedy in the age of war, modernism, and neglect. In the end, The Salt of the Earth is a phenomenal film from Wim Wenders and Julian Ribiero Salgado.

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) - Until the End of the World - (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) - (Every Thing Will Be Fine) - (Submergence) - (Pope Francis: A Man of His Word)

© thevoid99 2016

2013 Cannes Marathon: Wings of Desire

(Winner of the Best Director Prize for Wim Wenders at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival)

Directed by Wim Wenders and written by Wenders and Peter Handke with additional contributions from Richard Reitinger, Wings of Desire is the story about a group of invisible angels looking over Berlin as they hear the thoughts and prayers of the people they around them as one of them falls for a trapeze artist as he decides to become human. The film is an exploration into the world of faith as well as an angel’s desire to do all of the things humanity is doing. Starring Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, and Peter Falk as himself. Wings of Desire is a rich and exhilarating film from Wim Wenders.

The film is this very simple story about a group of angels watching over the city of West Berlin as they hear the thoughts and hopes of humanity. One of them in Damiel (Bruno Ganz) falls in love with a French trapeze artist in Marion (Solveig Dommartin) who is dealing with the abrupt closing of the circus she’s working for. Damiel’s desire to become human is one aspect of the story though it mostly follows him and his fellow angel Cassiel (Otto Sander) as they wander around Berlin to hear the people and comfort them in time of need. Meanwhile, Peter Falk is in Berlin working on a film as he wanders around the city thinking about its past as does an aging poet (Curt Bois) who Cassiel follows around. It’s all set in a crucial period just before the fall of the Berlin Wall as the angels are observing everything around them while there’s some temptation to experience humanity.

The screenplay by Wim Wenders and Peter Handke doesn’t play into a traditional structure as it’s all very loose where it is about two different worlds that come into play. One is the world that the humans are living as they’re going through all sorts of things while the other are the angels as they are often around the humans to see what is happening. Some are just doing well while others are struggling as the angels even get a chance to glimpse into the memories of a few who are still reeling from the aftermath of World War II. While Damiel and Cassiel are observing all of the people in Berlin, they know that they aren’t seen except from the children of the city. Around Peter Falk, he can sense their presence though he doesn’t see them as he tries to converse with them though he knows he can’t touch them. It’s among the many encounters that intrigues the two angels where Damiel’s infatuation towards Marion has him wanting to become human.

Though Cassiel understands why Damiel would want to do this, he is afraid of the consequences of what Damiel might experience as the film’s third act is about Damiel becoming human in the middle of no man’s land between the east and west sections of Berlin. For Damiel, it is about the experience of being human where he sees color for the very first time and experience such things as taste and smell where there is this air of innocence but also uncertainty. Still, there are those that come to play who will guide Damiel into finding what he needs.

Wenders’ direction is evocative in the way he presents a world that is changing just before the fall of the Berlin Wall as everything is happening as usual. From the perspective of the angels, Wenders gives them a very dream-like perspective as it’s shot largely in a monochrome black-and-white style where they are observers as they would often move around while humans are either still or just oblivious to their presence with the exception of the children and Peter Falk. Some of the shots that Wenders creates often have the camera looking down or just gazing from the air where the angels often place themselves at the Victory Column statue. The direction also has an air of style where there are brief moments where the film is shown in color whenever the angels aren’t at the presence of a major character or through stock footage of the aftermath of World War II.

The scenes shot in color are quite straightforward, especially in the third act where there is this great mix of the two palettes for the scene of Damiel’s transformation to become human in the middle of no man’s land in the Berlin Wall. The city of Berlin is a character in the film as Wenders makes it into a place that is going through some major changes though they’re unaware of what is going to be ahead of them in the next few years. Even as Wenders shoots a couple of concert scenes that feature performances from Crime & the City Solution and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds that would play major importance to the development of the story. Overall, Wenders creates a very mesmerizing and powerful film about the experience to be alive in the world.

Cinematographer Henri Alekan does brilliant work with the film‘s very stylized monochrome black-and-white style to capture the world of the angels as they are on Earth watching humanity play itself out while using some gorgeous colors for the scenes of humans venturing around the city without the presence of the angels. Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work with the stylized editing with its use of dissolves and rhythmic cuts to play out the sense of reality and the world that the angels live in as well as the scenes of Damiel soaking in his first experience as a human being. Art director Heidi Ludi and set decorator Esther Waltz do amazing work with some of the set pieces from the set where Peter Falk is working at to the recreation of the Victory Column statue for its close-ups.

Costume designer Monika Jacobs does nice work with the costumes from the more reserved clothes of the angels to the stylish clothes of Marion. Sound mixers Axel Arft and Jean-Paul Mugel do fantastic work with the sound from the layer of the voice-overs where the angels hear the thoughts of the people to the scenes on location to display a world that is changing. The film’s music by Jurgen Knieper is wonderful as it is mainly an orchestral-based score filled with soaring arrangements and some circus music as the soundtrack includes cuts from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Crime & the City Solution, Laurie Anderson, and other classical pieces.

The film’s cast is superb as it is mostly filled with various people in many small roles though it really comes down to the five principle characters in the film that includes Curt Bois as an aging poet who feels lost in the world as he’s looking for Potsdamer Platz while Peter Falk is great as himself as a man observing his surroundings while trying to be part of the world that is Berlin. Solveig Dommartin is amazing as the trapeze artist Marion who is trying to deal with the loss of her art as she is struggling to find something in Berlin. Otto Sander is excellent as Cassiel as an angel who is playing his role as the observer while struggling with wanting to help those in need. Finally, there’s Bruno Ganz in a marvelous performance as Damiel as an angel who is intrigued by humanity as he falls for Marion as he is eager to experience humanity as Ganz brings a lot of heart into the role once his character becomes human.

Wings of Desire is an outstanding film from Win Wenders that features a brilliant ensemble cast as well as very captivating themes on humanity and the idea to be alive. It is definitely one of Wenders’ great achievements as well as a very engaging piece about being human as it’s told from the perspective of angels who are eager to comfort humanity in trying times. In the end, Wings of Desire is a phenomenal 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) - (Notebook on Cities and Clothes) - Until the End of the World - (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) - (Every Thing Will Be Fine) - The Salt of the Earth - (Submergence) - (Pope Francis: A Man of His Word)

© thevoid99 2013

Paris, Texas

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com 7/12/06 w/ Extensive Revisions & Additional Edits.

One of the leaders of the German New Wave, Wim Wenders helped revive the German film industry after the years of World War II by making films about Germany. While his peers contemporary like the controversial and dramatic Rainier Werner Fassbinder and the ambitious dream world of Werner Herzog helped redefine German films for an international audience. Wenders was different from them, largely due to his love for American cinema. Early films including his road trilogy of Falsche Bewegung (The Wrong Move), Alice in den Stadten (Alice in the Cities), and Im Lauf der Zeit (King of the Roads) in the mid-70s revealed his love for American road movies. One of his favorite directors was American filmmaker Nicholas Ray where in 1980, Wenders released a documentary called Lightning Over Water about Ray's final days.

Still fascinated by America, Wenders teamed up with Texan screenwriter and producer L.M. Kit Carson about an adaptation of a short story written by playwright Sam Shepard, whose most famous work was acting in Terrence Malick's 1978 masterpiece Days of Heaven. With Shepard, Carson wrote a script that was later finalized by Shepard about a lost man who is found as he tries to get reacquainted with the world and heal the wounds of his shattered family life. The final result would become of Wenders' greatest films about America entitled Paris, Texas.

Directed by Wenders with a script by Shepard, Paris, Texas is an existential road movie of a man who had disappeared for four years. Finally found and reunited with his brother, the man is forced to realize the real world while trying to re-establish a relationship with his young son and to find his wife. Taking Wenders' knowledge of American road movies and Shepard's study of decay, the film is a wandering, elliptical journey of a man trying to get a second chance while discovering why he departed an already fulfilled life. Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clement, and Hunter Carson. Paris, Texas is a beautiful, worldly masterpiece from the team of Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard.

A man named Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) is walking around a desert lost as he finds a gas station to get some water as he passes out. After a local doctor (Bernard Wicki) looks over him as Travis acts mute, the doctor finds out who Travis is through his wallet as he calls Travis' brother Walt (Dean Stockwell). Walt receives the doctor's call as he flies to Texas to identify the man he hadn't seen in four years. After arriving to Texas, Walt identifies his brother as Travis remains mute and acts strangely until Travis finally speaks asking to go to Paris, Texas where he claims that where he was conceived. The brothers go on a road trip on a different rental car to Paris, Texas for a plot of land that Travis had bought as Walter decides to take Travis home to Los Angeles.

Arriving into L.A., Travis meets Walter's French wife Anne (Aurore Clement) whom he hadn't seen in years as well as Travis' own son Hunter (Hunter Carson) as they're surprised by Travis. Though Hunter isn't sure who is, Travis spends his time trying to get reacquainted with Anne and Hunter while their maid Carmelia (Sorroco Valdez) helps Travis in re-bonding with Hunter. After watching through some old family films that featured Hunter's missing mother Jane (Nastassja Kinski), Travis decides to go and find Jane as Anne reluctantly reveals her whereabouts. Travis goes on the trip as he takes Hunter without telling Walt or Anne as Hunter later calls them as they go to Texas.

After arriving in Houston, Hunter finally sees his mother dropping off money in a car as Travis follows her as he sees that she's a stripper working at a peep show. Shocked by what she's become, Travis decides to go into the peep show pretending to be a different man to see Jane as they talk in a two-way mirror. The meeting forces Travis to reveal Hunter about what happened to him as he goes for one more emotional meeting with Jane about their departures and what they need to do for Hunter.

While the film is truly an American film, the film does have a sense of European style of narratives and filmmaking techniques. Still, the collaboration of Wenders and Shepard in their own respective style reveals how both work to create an entirely original, harrowing road film. What Wenders and Shepard reveal is that the film is about a man whose descent into madness makes him lose focus of what is important and when he returns to the real world, he has to deal with loss. The film's theme is loss since the character of Travis has lost his identity, his family, his dreams, and everything that was around him. What is more troubling was how he lost everything and how tries to regain everything.

Sam Shepard's screenplay is filled with allegories of the old West where the film opens with a worldly scene of the Western landscape with a hawk flying down. There, the script is filled with symbolism of the decaying world that Travis is trying to find as the film explores Travis' descent and his attempt to reclaim everything. Shepard's script allows characters to grow and deal with everything around them. Notably the characters of Walt and Anne who are dealing with the fact that Travis' return will shake their own idyllic life where they raised Hunter as one of their own. Shepard creates a harrowing script that has moments of humor and hope while creating an ending that is very ambiguous on what is to happen for all of its central characters. In many ways, it's truly part of the genius of Sam Shepard who is a master in the study of alienation, loss, and grief.

If Shepard needed a director to complement his study of character, Wim Wenders is the perfect director as he uses his knowledge of American cinema to view a world that is isolating. Wenders' observant yet wandering direction is filled with many symbols as one of the prominent colors of the film is red whether it's the red hat that Travis wears, the red jacket of Hunter, or the red car and sweater that Jane wears towards the end. The color in some ways serves as a tribute to one of Wenders' favorite director in Nicholas Ray while he opens the film with having the protagonist not uttering a word for the first 20-30 minutes. Its in Wenders that allows the character of Travis to try and explore his surroundings where he makes the audience aware of a world that is completely different from the one years before. Overall, it's some of the best directing and presentation given by a director as brilliant as Wim Wenders.

Helping Wenders in his presentation is his longtime cinematographer Robby Muller who helps capture the alienating feel of the American landscape. Muller's photography is one of the film's highlights as he captures the exterior of America with a disconcerting feel with an array of colors with sunlight and the moon to bring that feel of loss. Muller's presentation of America is beautiful but haunting as even the interiors in the film's third act from the strip club to a bar reveals the sense of isolation with its moody colors and compositions. It's truly some of Muller's best work in the world of cinematography. Art director does some great work in capturing the decay of the American West while showing the comfort yet claustrophobic feel of American suburbia. Costume designer Birgitta Bjerke also does great work in the film's costumes, notably the cowboy suit that Travis wears to impress hunter as does the clothing of red.

Editor Peter Przygodda does excellent work in giving the film an elliptical yet transcending style of pacing while his cutting to give the perspective of characters and it surroundings help the presentation that Wenders wanted. Sound editor Dominique Auvray and sound mixer Jean-Paul Mugel also does great work with the film's sound in bringing an atmosphere that is alienating from the quiet ambient tone of the Texas desert to the chaotic world of the cities in Los Angeles and Houston. Finally there's composer and longtime Wenders collaborator Roy Cooder whose lyrical blues guitar playing that is a variation of Blind Willie Johnson's Dark Was The Night brings the sense of grief and loss for the film's tone. Cooder's melodic playing is filled with sadness as its riffs are memorable to give the sense of Americana that Wenders and Shepard wanted. It's truly one of the best film scores ever done on screen.

The film's wonderful cast includes such notable small performances as Bernhard Wicki as the doctor, Socorro Valdez as the family maid, Tom Farrell as a screaming man who Travis walks by, Sally Norvell as a fellow stripper, Justin Hogg as the 3-year old Hunter, a cameo from Sam Shepard himself, and regular Jim Jarmusch actor John Lurie as the owner of the strip club Jane works for. French actress Aurore Clement gives a fascinating yet harrowing performance as a maternal figure who's afraid of losing her child while is reminded of the fact that Hunter is not her son yet she's been his mother for years. Clement is truly marvelous in her role as she brings a unique quality to her character. Hunter Carson is also great as the young yet smart Hunter who is aware that he has a father he hasn't seen yet he still calls both his real dad and uncle as dad. Carson brings a lot of innocence and realism to his character that most child actors do.

Dean Stockwell is wonderful as Travis' brother Walt who is forced to confront Anne's fears of letting go Hunter as his character is forced to deal with many forms of loss like the idea of losing not just his nephew but his brother again. Stockwell's performance is filled with the frustration and comfort of a brother who hopes to repair troubled relationships while understanding him as Stockwell carries the same realism that the young Carson has. Nastassja Kinski is entrancing yet complex in her role as the lost Jane whose descent is shocking as a woman who is trying to let go of her past only to be forced to confront it. Kinski early on starts off as a woman who is upbeat and quirky as the German-born Kinski pulls off a great Texan accent. Still, Kinski's role in the final minutes are very important to the story as she pulls off the emotions that is needed for its finale as Kinski remains underrated among her contemporaries.

Finally, there's noted character actor Harry Dean Stanton in what is truly, his greatest role to date. Stanton exudes all of the troubles and grief into his character where for the first 20-30 minutes, he doesn't even speak. Stanton's stillness in his minimalist performance shows his complexity and range as an actor who can do so much by doing so little. When his character comes out of the protective shell of grief and sadness, Stanton's minimalism in his performance is more drawn out as he reveals Travis' sensitivity and drive into repairing the damaged relationships with his family. Stanton's performance in the final act when he reveals the film's most important information in a very emotionally crucial scene reveals how he restrained he is with his emotions. It's a magnificent performance from the character actor who rarely gives an adequate performance.

Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas is a harrowing yet worldly masterpiece thanks to the contributions of Sam Shepard and the film's cast, notably Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clement, and Hunter Carson. While the film's elliptical pacing, unconventional narratives might confuse or bore more conventional film audiences. The film does have something to offer in terms of its emotions and themes as it's considered to be one of Wenders' best films. For anyone wanting to see an intelligent, beautiful road movie, Paris, Texas is the film to see.

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) - (Tokyo-Ga) - Wings of Desire - (Notebook on Cities and Clothes) - Until the End of the World - (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) - (Palermo Shooting) - (Pina) - The Salt of the Earth - (Every Thing Will Be Fine) - (Submergence) - (Pope Francis: A Man of His Word)

© thevoid99 2011