Wim Wenders
Added 2023-02-10 20:13:03 +0000 UTCI am finally planning a review of Paris, Texas. I think it's a remarkable piece of work, and something everyone should see. What are your opinions on the film?
Comments
Saw this movie today for the first time. A beautiful picture. Made me very emotional. Before I watched the entire piece I was familiar with some images and one day I saw a fragment on TV. It was on my watch list for a long time and I finally experienced it.
Oskitello
2023-02-14 07:19:22 +0000 UTCHave you ever considered having program on a community radio or TV station?
anthony scully
2023-02-13 22:23:52 +0000 UTCIt was a slide guitar. It was very atmospheric and malancholic
anthony scully
2023-02-13 22:22:26 +0000 UTCThe soundtrack is like Cowboy Bebop, or aspects of it.
Deepfocuslens
2023-02-13 21:18:05 +0000 UTCI have not seen Paris Texas for decades. I used to own a VHS copy. I remember the sound track and that the film was very slow. There are two scenes that stood out. When Stanton reveals his identity in the peep show booth and the scene when Kinski is reunited with her son
anthony scully
2023-02-12 05:13:48 +0000 UTCHi Maggie I recently watched your review of silence of the lambs. You mentioned the character played by Francis Mcdormant in Fargo. I was surprised that you regarded this as a positive portrayal. I thought the Cohen brothers were taking the piss out of her. Her accent makes her sound like a country hick. Yes, they show that she has real intelligence but she comes across as being very quaint
anthony scully
2023-02-12 05:08:36 +0000 UTCSo I tended to agree with you on my intial viewing. But once I saw it a few more times, my opinion began to shift. I won't go too much into it here, since I hope to cover it at least somewhat in the review. But yeah, it took me time to feel satisfied with that.
Deepfocuslens
2023-02-11 19:33:58 +0000 UTCI knew a girl from Paris, TX when I lived in Hurst (near Fort Worth).
Atticus Xey
2023-02-11 00:32:45 +0000 UTCI would happily put this film in my top 10 80’s films. I’ve got one big fat soft spot in my heart for backcountry road movies and another big fat soft spot in my heart for Harry Dean Stanton’s screen presence. It also holds an interesting place in cinema history, being a European movie that looks at the American experience with compassion during a time when European filmmakers were sharply critical of this country.
Jared Angcanan
2023-02-10 23:22:25 +0000 UTCA haunting, elegiac road movie, full of poignant regret and longing. The film is beautifully shot, the cinematography capturing the Southwest with a great sense of place yet also with a strange, fascinating contradiction: it’s at once familiar and exotic, vividly picturesque and grittily naturalistic. That may have to do with it being made by people who very much love the region yet lived their lives very much outside of it (Wim Wenders and DP Robby Müller are West German and Dutch, respectively). And that awesome slide-guitar score by Ry Cooder…it’s one of my favorites, right alongside Georges Delerue’s theme for Camille from Godard’s Contempt (apples and oranges, yes, but I love them both). But yet…I don’t consider Paris, Texas the masterpiece that many do. While I love the film for its languid pace and the way it seems to discover itself as it goes along (the result of Wenders and Sam Shepard writing the movie as it was shooting)—two qualities that might turn off some viewers—I never found the ending to be satisfying. It rings false as a note of redemption for Travis and also comes off as an overly tidy solution to a very messy situation, giving short shrift to the characters of Walt and Anne, who were providing Hunter with a loving and stable home for which to grow up in (a house which, as it’s nestled on a hillside with a concrete patio overlooking the city, reminds me so much of the house I grew up in, especially in the early days of living there), and leaving him with a character who, given her troubles, will provide him with a decidedly uncertain future. Even with the moving, impactful monologue that Travis delivers to her (great scene), Kinski’s mother would not be instantly healed and ready to care for her son. So, for me, the ending falls flat. Still, you’re right, it is definitely worth seeing, not only for the stunning imagery and score, but also for the beautifully understated performance of Harry Dean Stanton, in one of his rare lead roles. With a single close-up on his gaunt, ragged face, which rivals the cragginess of the desert landscape he’s found wandering in, Stanton makes it known that Travis has been places and seen things, and that it’s left him a haunted shell of a man who must now confront a lost past and a broken present. He makes you want to go right along with him. I’m grateful for Paris, Texas being made if only for allowing a great character actor who always existed on the margins to finally take center stage.
Bennett Oliver
2023-02-10 22:23:24 +0000 UTCAbsolutely! Harry Dean Stanton is one of my favorite character actors and his performance here is a revelation. As someone who is huge on character driven narratives, this one is probably one of my favorites. The two scenes that always get to me is the family home movie scene which has next to no dialogue and the big monologue at the end which is just...wow! Such a beautifully quiet and subtle piece of work with near perfect pacing.
Wolfman Brandon
2023-02-10 21:53:36 +0000 UTCThank you as well. Sending my best regards to you & your mom (:
Mateusz
2023-02-10 21:09:01 +0000 UTCI highly recommend other Wenders films. But this one definitely has somewhat more of an accessibility than some. Haha what always makes me laugh is that Dean Stockwell played the little kid in Anchor's Aweigh in 1945...a film I'm guilty of watching far too many times. But that always tripped me out. Yes, the final scene towards the end is one of the greats of all time for me.
Deepfocuslens
2023-02-10 21:04:56 +0000 UTCThank you for that story. I think for sure this film speaks to generations, and the familial experience is integral to that. I also decided to watch the film with my mom last week, who had never seen it. I think she really liked it, and none of that surprises me. And yes, great double feature recommendation. :)
Deepfocuslens
2023-02-10 21:03:29 +0000 UTCSaw it not to long ago for the first time and really loved it. The key scene with Stanton and Kinski towards the end is truly stunning. Also, it took me a second to adjust to Dean Stockwell performance having only seen him in Blue Velvet before. It's the only Wim Wenders film I've seen, and I imagine he's got a few other great films in him.
Stephen
2023-02-10 20:58:34 +0000 UTCMy mom in her early 20's went to theater with her friend, looking for some sweet romantic comedy. Saw poster of Paris, Texas, they've bought two tickets and regret it 2 hours later. She told me that for the first time, when I've told my completely opposite experience of watching it around 30 years later. I loved it, however it completely deconstructed for me idea of American dream. Somehow it's similar in this aspect to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns: arguably one of the best movies with American mythos in the background are made by foreigners. Funny thing is that my grandmother watched Paris, Texas with me about a year ago and she also liked it a lot. Maybe it's a generational thing/gap in persoeption between my mom and myself. I wonder (if I'd be that lucky) what kind of experience will have my children or even grandchildren. That would be an interesting experiment. P.S. Speaking of luck, I've watched "Lucky" yesterday. Maybe not an exceptional movie, but what a great send-off to Harry Dean-Stanton. There are few tropes here and there to Winder's masterpiece, it'd be a nice double feature. Plus there are few extras from 90's Star Trek appearing, which was nice to see. Anyway, nice little & quirky movie.
Mateusz
2023-02-10 20:51:32 +0000 UTC
