Wim Wenders

[zedz]

At the end of the 80s Wenders made a (for me) surprising turn towards embracing the then current styles in both music and fashion, i.e. the so-called 'new wave' (for want of a better word) of the 80s. A good indication is "Notebook on Cities and Clothes". It's probably just a personal matter, as I grew up in precisely this time and with those aesthetics and predelictions; and the beginning of "Until the end of the world" with its neon-lit world is exactly what I remember this time was like, and I think he very nicely managed to capture it on screen (more convincing to me than, say, Beineix in "Diva").

You're certainly right about this (it's the main reason I mistook this for an eighties film!) - all that neon, real and metaphorical, was so of its time it actually undermined the film for me. Wenders was good at indicating the near-future through minor changes in technology, but it looked as if fashion and design, the thing you'd expect to change most in ten years, hadn't really developed. (But I need to stop complaining about this film!)

[Tommaso]

Wenders was good at indicating the near-future through minor changes in technology, but it looked as if fashion and design, the thing you'd expect to change most in ten years, hadn't really developed.

Well, isn't that a very general problem with any film that wants to predict the future? The actual year in which the film is set is 1999. The film was made in the late 80s, and of course one has to expect changes, but probably not hugely significant ones in ten years (and actually the neon designs etc. hadn't much changed in the ten years from 1979 to 1989). I would certainly forgive the film that 'flaw', if it is one. In addition, almost all science fiction is talking about the present more than the future, using the 'future' only as a metaphorical/phantastic place to make the present 'visible'; but in order to achieve this, it must be firmly grounded in the present to make it identifiable. If you think of some 50s and 60s Sci-Fi films (again Star Trek comes to my mind) where they really tried to have a completely different look, it either ended up in the realm of the completely fantastic or as something comic (at least in retrospect, because today one can clearly identify that Kirk or Uhura had a typical 60s look to them, not to speak of the various aliens).

[Hopscotch]

Hopefully I won't get yelled at for asking this here in this thread, but real quick:
Has anyone heard Sibylle Baier's album Colour Green? She acts in Wender's Alice in the Cities (the tangential relation), and in between '70 and '73 she recorded a bunch of songs on reel-to-reel which, over 30 years later in 2006, her son compiled into a beautiful, beautiful album. One of the songs is definitely about Wim too, because it's called "Wim!" Anyway I think the CD is gut-wrenchingly good. Very simple and sparse and autumnal.

"do you know Wim
　　he likes cities and I like him
　　do you know Wim
　　oh, just go and see a cinema show
　　in the first row and watch him cry, him, Wim."

Sorry if I'm annoying mods or if this is .com fare or something. Really though, take a listen to the album if you have any interest in folk music. It's an important part of my life now.

[domino harvey]

I have that CD and it's really good, for what it's worth. 8-)

[domino harvey]

For those upset about the R1 Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas going OOP, the films will be released in R2 at the end of the month, and with what appears to be the same extras and then some:

* 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
* German DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround with optional English subtitles
* Feature-length commentary with Wim Wenders and Peter Falk
* ‘Conversations on Wings of Desire’ featurette
* Deleted scenes with optional commentary
* The original theatrical trailer
* Exclusive 20 page limited edition collectors’ booklet

* 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
* English DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround
* English HOH subtitles
* Feature-length commentary with Wim Wenders
* Deleted scenes
* Home movies
* Cannes Film Festival footage
* The original theatrical trailer
* Exclusive 24 page limited edition collector’s booklet (includes Sam Shepard short story and L.M. Kit Carson film diaries)

[domino harvey]

This fall, titans of stage and screen will collide in a motion picture theater near...Germany. Yes! Acclaimed director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social Club, Paris, Texas) has a new film, and it is stuffed to the brim with things that should make music nerds giddy.

What sort of things, you ask? Why, how about a cameo from Lou Reed, a score composed by Can's Irmin Schmidt, and brand new music from Will Oldham and Nick Cave's Grinderman! Really, pull up a chair.

Having shown at Cannes earlier this year, Wenders' Palermo Shooting is due to hit theaters in Germany on November 20, according to IMDb. The film stars Andreas "Campino" Frege, frontman for German punk mainstays Die Toten Hosen (each of Campino's bandmates also makes a brief appearance in the film). He plays a restless photographer who embraces the open road. There he meets Death (who goes by the name "Frank" in this film, how cute), as portrayed by Dennis Hopper. How I love the cinema.

The journey of Campino's photographer is set to familiar tunes from Iron & Wine, Calexico, Beirut, Jason Collett, and the Long Winters, plus a few offerings composed specifically for the film.

Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney bring us new song "Torn and Brayed" (plus "Death to Everyone" from Oldham's Bonnie "Prince" Billy classic I See a Darkness makes an appearance). Meanwhile, Wenders' old pal Nick Cave and his Grinderman serve up "Dream (Song for Finn)" and "Song for Frank".

Palermo Shooting also includes Portishead's "The Rip", from this year's comeback LP Third, and "Mysteries", the opening track from Beth Gibbons' 2002 record with Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (aka Rustin Man), Out of Season. Wenders calls Gibbons "simply my favorite singer in all of contemporary music" in the film's press materials.

Last but not least, you'll hear Velvet Underground classic "Some Kinda Love"...during a scene featuring Lou Reed himself! Reed and Wenders go way back, as Reed appeared the director's 1993 feature Faraway, So Close! and 2003 blues documentary The Soul of a Man as well.

As if all that weren't enough, Palermo Shooting also features, as mentioned, a score composed by Irmin Schmidt of krautrock legends Can. Hey, Can! They're pretty good!

No word yet on a soundtrack or U.S. release for Palermo Shooting, but given the top tier talent involved, I reckon we'll get both soon enough.

[Camera Obscura]

I'm still eagerly awaiting a DVD-release of Wenders' first two features, Summer in the City (1970) and Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter/ The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972).

To my knowledge, they've not been given any kind of DVD-release, not even in Germany. Unless of course, I've missed out on some totally obscure release of these two films.

Summer in the City though has been released on VHS in Germany, but - understandably - copies are hard to come by.

Arthaus, Criterion, Anchor Bay? What's keeping them?

[zedz]

I'm still eagerly awaiting a DVD-release of Wenders' first two features, Summer in the City (1970) and Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter/ The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972).

[. . .] What's keeping them?

I don't remember too much about the soundtrack for The Goalie's Fear, but I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of music rights has nixed a DVD release of Summer in the City.

[Camera Obscura]

Of course, music rights! Could have guessed, apparently, that's exactly it.

For Summer in the City, music rights seems to be hinder any kind of release. I could have guessed with music from The Loving Spoonful, Chuck Berry, The Trogs, Gene Vincent. Nevertheless, I always thought it was cleared.

Wenders about Summer in the City in an interview in 2001:

The title, from a Loving Spoonful record (and a painting by Edward Hopper), indicates how heavily I was influenced by rock 'n' roll; the film itself was dedicated to the Kinks, and again, none it was cleared. So it was only shown in film school, and once or twice in some retrospectives. Other than that, the film could never be shown, because I never had the music rights.

I've never seen The Goalie's Fear (nor Summer in the City for that matter), but I don't think music rights are a major issue with that film. In due time, that one will probably get a release, with a little patience...

[zedz]

That's a shame. I really like Summer in the City, even though it's clearly a novice film. It's got great energy, a lot of it derived from the way Wenders engages with the music.

I didn't realise the film was quite that elusive. I saw it (like most prime Wenders) via the Goethe Institut, so presumably Inter Nationes have a print. They also had Alabama - 2000 Light Years from Home, which has similar issues (there are two big knotty ones staring out from that title) and is presumably in a related limbo. If you've got a local Goethe Institut it might be worth inquiring about the possibility of a modest Wenders retro. I've known them to be incredibly responsive to specific suggestions in some instances (and completely un- in others).

[Camera Obscura]

Contacting the Goethe-Intitute might be a good idea, although I think they only do film once a month, almost exclusively recent stuff, like Goodbye Lenin. Naturally, one of their main goals is to encourage young people to take an interest in German language and culture. Perhaps I can convince them that early Wenders is gonna do the trick.

I think Summer in the City was screened a couple of times during the late eighties/ early nineties, when Wenders' reputation was at an all-time high after Wings of Desire. In the Netherlands at least, there seemed to be one Wenders-retrospective after another.

But that's something else completely. Nowadays, it seems Wenders has been banned from most cinemas alltogether. I should contact the folks at the Goethe-Institute and submit a hefty list of demands for future screenings. I might as well throw in some other rare stuff. They might just do it.

[Yojimbo]

Finally got to see the third of the 70's road movies, "Alice In The Cities": I had actually bought it before the other two but I was still somewhat wary of it, given that a young child actor was one of the two leads.
In the DVDs accompanying notes, it quotes Wenders as mentioning that he was wary to proceed, given Peter Bogdanovich had started 'Paper Moon' around the same tme, but I'm glad he went ahead and made it.
I'm inclined to say its the best of the three but they're three different films in style and tone, and it may be only because its freshest in the memory.
Perhaps its better to say that this ranks high among the great cinematic trilogies, that Yella Rottlander,as Alice, gives a marvellous natural performance, that Robby Muller's b&w cinematography is stunning and that its a masterpiece
(and my opinion isn't at all influenced by the fact that he displays his great love of John Ford with the two prominent nods he gives to 'The Old Masters' during the film)

[hearthesilence]

Wim Wenders retrospective coming to MoMA in March. New prints but no schedule yet - definitely looking forward to this, a lot of his stuff is out-of-print in the U.S. or only available on Hulu Plus. (I'm not a VOD fan.)

[hearthesilence]

Highly recommend catching this retrospective, Wenders' post-screening discussions (this week only) have been amazing. Even if you can't make them, it's worth catching some of the new restorations at later screenings. It's part of an on-going initiative, and while some films don't benefit greatly, simply because existing prints already looked amazing, I can vouch for Alice in the Cities looking better than ever, and The American Friend looks drop-dead beautiful, with a new stereo mix to boot. All the restorations will be indicated at the beginning of the screening, with notes attached before the credits. Here's a sample of two:

Alice in the Cities

ALICE IN THE CITIES was shot on 16 mm black and white negative in the summer of 1973. For 15 years all copies in circulation worldwide were made from the original negative. When a 35 mm dupe negative was finally made in 1988, the original material was already damaged by countless scratches, vertical lines and cracks.

The digital restoration of the film was done in 2014. For this purpose, the original negative was scanned in a resolution of 4K using the wetgate method and retouched and color-corrected in a resolution of 2K. Individual sequences that were too heavily damaged in the original 16 mm negative were replaced with sections from the 35 mm dupe negative.Although shot in the 1:1.37 format commissioned by WDR, Wim Wenders and his cameraman Robby Müller composed the shots for the widescreen format 1:1.66 during the shooting. At the director’s request, the film was also screened in cinemas as such. In the course of its digital restoration, ALICE IN THE CITIES was now finally framed in this preferred format.


Wim Wenders on Reframing Alice:

“As Robby Müller and I were preparing to film ‘Alice in the Cities’ in 1972, we were hoping to be able to shoot in 35 mm with the Arri BL, which had just come out at the time.But then it turned out that the camera was still too hard to come by and our budget was too small anyways. But since we still wanted to shoot with the original sound on location, we were left with no other option than to switch to 16 mm, which we then did, grudgingly. We did stick with the 1:1.66 wide-screen format which was common at the time though and drew it on the viewfinder. That was the format we preferred. But back in those days the TV folks absolutely had to have the 3:4 full frame format, even though I never really knew how you were supposed to frame it. My desire to see it on the big screen was simply only satisfied by the 1:1.66 cinema format… For the restoration – in which the black and white image finally no longer looks like it’s been run through a meat grinder (unbelievably over 100 copies were printed from the original film negative!), although it has of course preserved its 16 mm film grain – I decided to honor my original wish. The film can now be seen in the 1:1.66 format, just as we dreamt it and also framed it at the time. And since television has also become willing to show films in wide-screen in the meantime, and since most devices offer the 16:9 format anyways, we even decided to completely forego providing the old unpopular 3:4 format. I’ve taken the time to describe this in such detail so that no one will think that we messed with the film arbitrarily during the restoration process. We didn’t. The only arbitrary thing was the 3:4 format back then.”

The American Friend

The American Friend was filmed in the fall and winter of 1976/77. The digital restoration of the film was done in 2014. For this purpose, the original 35 mm negative was scanned, retouched and color-corrected in a resolution of 4k. The original cut of the film was not altered in any way. The sound was originally mixed in mono and was remixed in Dolby Stereo from the original tapes. All work was carried out at ARRI Film & TV Services Berlin and supported by funding from FFA German Federal Film Board for the Digitization of Content.

[TMDaines]

Thanks, that's very insightful.

[hearthesilence]

Saw Kings of the Road, which is actually a poor American title for the film. Distributors thought the English translation of the actual German title - In the Course of Time - wasn't marketable, so Wenders went along with their suggestion of Kings of the Road, much to his regret.

The film looked superb, and along with Alice in the Cities, it was apparently one of the toughest restoration jobs they had done on Wenders' catalog. The notes:

Kings of the Road was shot on 35mm Orwo b/w negative film in 1975. The digital restoration of the film was done in 2014. For this purpose, the original negative was scanned, retouched and color-corrected in a resolution of 4k. The film material exhibited serious damage from wear and tear in individual shots and the film base had shrunk considerably over the years. This required intensive retouching and stabilization, which proved to be particularly challenging due to the length of the film. All work was carried out at ARRI Film & TV Services Berlin and supported by funding from FFA German Federal Film Board for the Digitization of Content.

That shrinkage was a huge issue with that film stock, and somewhere down the line, they had to make a dupe and use that to strike prints, so this may have been the first time in a long time that anything was made directly from the negative. Again, looked amazing - despite the major issue of shrinkage, it was apparently an excellent looking film stock.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Wenders' Until the End of the World is a film I've been waiting to hit DVD ever since I got my first player in 2003 - truly superb flick that combined the genres of sci-fi & road trip, while being completely unique - the device that allowed you to "see" others' dreams was quite interesting. Also liked the fact that this took place in the then-futuristic late '90's, on the eve of the 21st century (since the film came out in '91).

The soundtrack was amazing as well: Lou Reed, R.E.M., Julee Cruise, Elvis Costello, U2, etc. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite pop/rock film soundtracks.

Unfortunately, the last time I saw this film was on VHS tape circa 1993 - never gotten ahold of any of the non-Region 1 DVD releases. IMHO a perfect R1 Blu/DVD release would include all of the different versions - I think there are 3-4?! floating around.

Like a lot of films that have not been released to R1 DVD/Blu, I'm almost certain one of reasons (and possibly the main reason) for the delay are music rights. IMHO straightening out/coming to an agreement re: rock/pop music has been one of the reasons many films/TV shows haven't come out on DVD, or have been delayed...

So, hopefully this film will be released soon on R1.

Note that the underrated sci-fi film Strange Days (1995) reminds me somewhat of UTEOTW, re: the late 1999 setting (also on the verge of the 21st century), and the "virtual reality" aspect....though, both films are completely different otherwise...

[Superswede11]

Reports from the latest screening of the 5 hour cut say the Janus Films logo opened the film

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Reports from the latest screening of the 5 hour cut say the Janus Films logo opened the film

That's what I heard - hopefully this means we're closer to an official R1 Blu/DVD release of UTEOTW.

[hearthesilence]

So as mentioned in my posts from earlier this year, Wenders has been going through his back catalog, restoring and re-transferring his films. That MoMA retrospective in March featured everything that had been done at that time, and now it looks like Wenders is doing a traveling retrospective with the first stop at IFC Center in New York. (So far, it's reported to be a 15+ city tour of the nation's top art houses, with stops in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Houston, Austin and Vancouver.)

I highly recommend checking out Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road, they're two of his best and given the problem with the original film elements, they did an amazing, herculean job restoring them.

Even more interesting is two new 4k restorations that weren't finished/shown at the MoMA retrospective: Paris, Texas (possibly his best looking film) and The Shape of Things. Both were shown in 35mm prints, and while the former looked great, the latter didn't look so hot, even though the print was in good shape - it'll be interesting to see how the new restoration looks. (The IFC screening will be its world premiere.)

[Jack Phillips]

Even more interesting is two new 4k restorations that weren't finished/shown at the MoMA retrospective: Paris, Texas (possibly his best looking film) and The Shape of Things. Both were shown in 35mm prints, and while the former looked great, the latter didn't look so hot, even though the print was in good shape

That's not how I remember things. Paris, Texas was shown restored, but The Shape of Things and Wrong Move were not. Well, we agree on The Shape of Things. I'm glad that that's now restored, and hope Wrong Move is now too.

[hearthesilence]

I think there's been a partial misunderstanding, I meant that new 4k restorations of those films were not shown and were not ready for the MoMA retrospective back in March. I made no mention of Wrong Move, but that and The Shape of Things were not restored when they were shown at MoMA.

Re: Paris, Texas, are you sure it was restored? Wenders' website at the time said the 4k restoration was not yet done. Was there a card at the beginning that mentioned a 4k restoration? Also I just realized it was actually a DCP shown at MoMA, which is why I skipped it because Lincoln Center screened a 35mm print around the same time.

[Jack Phillips]

I think there's been a partial misunderstanding, I meant that new 4k restorations of those films were not shown and were not ready for the MoMA retrospective back in March. I made no mention of Wrong Move, but that and The Shape of Things were not restored when they were shown at MoMA.

We agree.

Re: Paris, Texas, are you sure it was restored? Wenders' website at the time said the 4k restoration was not yet done. Was there a card at the beginning that mentioned a 4k restoration? Also I just realized it was actually a DCP shown at MoMA, which is why I skipped it because Lincoln Center screened a 35mm print around the same time.

I went to hear Wenders' intro and didn't stay for the film, so I'm not 100% sure. I thought I saw a card before I left, but maybe my memory is playing tricks.

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, I noticed that they were showing a new DCP of Wings of Desire but I skipped it because they were reportedly working on a new 4k scan for a 2016 release. I wonder if it was a similar case with Paris, Texas?

[criterionsnob]

This Janus trailer for the Wenders retrospective includes Pina and The Million Dollar Hotel, which are not part of the current Janus retrospective tour.