Paris, Texas

I have been so looking forward to watching today's movie since I watched Wings of Desire. Paris, Texas was all directed by Wim Wenders as well, in 1984. I loved Wings of Desire - it was one of the most unique movies that I watched for the project, and I just was in awe of it. I imagined that Paris, Texas would be equally as interesting and different. I had often heard that it was similar in theme to The Searchers, a favorite movie of mine, and that just made me even more interested in this film.

I was not disappointed. I could see the style that I fell in love with before. The emphasis on dialogue and character. The main character, Travis, reminds Ebert (and I) of the angel in Wings of Desire - "He loves and cares, he empathizes, but he cannot touch. He does not have that gift" (Great Movies II, 318). There was a  really interesting restraint to the whole movie, and I loved that it mostly just focused on dialogue and story, and didn't try to add in action or anything just to make things exciting. I love that Wenders knows that just the characters are enough.

Wings of Desire

I was in a pretty awful mood today, and I lazed around the house reading Ann Rule (uh, yes I am currently paying back my loans for my English literature major, why do you ask?) instead of watching my film. I finally got myself to sit down and watch it, and I'm so glad I did. I watched Wings Of Desire (the German title is The Sky over Berlin), directed in 1987 by Wim Wenders. I didn't really do anything other than mash buttons on my remote before watching it, so I had no idea what it was about going into it. I'm sort of glad that I didn't, personally - the plot, what little there was, was borrowed from heavily for the Hollywood film City of Angels. Yunno, with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan or something. I didn't see it, and  it makes me feel tired to even think about it. Since Wings of Desire is slow and moody, there isn't much plot, so all plot summaries sound like City of Angels. Please do not confuses these movies and see what I presume is a bad Nic Cage film instead.
Wings of Desire made my mood...better. It was pensive and rambling enough to fit my state of mind, but somehow optimistic and uplifting enough to make me feel better. It really worked for me, and I felt...touched by it, I guess. I loved everything, from the vague plot to the striking cinematography - but most of all I loved the dialogue, which was, in essence, simply poetry spoken by the characters. It also had Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This movie was made for me to love, apparently.