Wim Wenders

[DeprongMori]

Just saw Until the End of the World for the first time last night, on the big screen at the Castro in SF. It was the full 295 minute "director's cut". I suspect this release will be a revelation for people who have seen the film before in a truncated version as this one is projected full frame (1.44:1 from my calculations from the screen grabs). I can't imagine this being matted down to 1.78 or 1.85 as all previous releases have apparently been (even the recent DVD "director's cut"), as the imagery is just gorgeous and the film itself seems perfectly framed with the more open image.

I hope to get some thoughts down soon here on this sprawling film. I don't think it entirely works but is well worth the time and I found it engrossing throughout. The restoration is stunning. And by all means, see it projected on a large screen if you possibly can. So glad I did.

[Lost Highway]

For anybody who happens to be in Berlin over the next few months, the Deutsche Kinemathek currently hosts an exhibition on Robby Müller which moved here from Amsterdam. It's small but beautifully curated and well worth it. It made me want to check out Wenders early films again, a couple of which I've never seen.

Unfortunately it's not English friendly but I also got hold of a German blu-ray box set which features 4K restaurantions of all the feature films by Wenders which I care to own. It contains the road trilogy plus The American Friend and The Goalies Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, which I watched last night. Never seen it before because it was previously unavailable due to music clearance issues. Its nihilistic existentialism and possibly problematic take on male/female dynamics are very much of it's time but I enjoyed it a lot and Müllers style, is already on display. They cleared some of the music rights, but in some cases Wenders recorded new songs to be able to rerelease the film, because rights for the likes of Elvis Presley were not affordable. I'll be working my way through the films chronologically.

[hearthesilence]

Posted on the Wenders Foundation's FB page:
Warming-up for the 4K re-release of Wings of Desire in 2018 !
We wish you a peaceful and playful winter break. See you then!

[hearthesilence]

Also, Wenders's speech at the European Film Awards, condemning the resurgence of nationalism as "the oldest and worst European disease."

[therewillbeblus]

I recently watched The End of Violence, which was a dense exercise in finding humanity in a pit of anchored positions forced into change. The Byrne character's choice to disrupt his sheep-motions of governmental work, Pullman's break from his own profession, and the officer's personal attachment and following of gut-instinct against detached protocols, all point to a freedom in emerging from the conventions that act as mirages of constraints binding us to complacency. What I love about Wenders' later works, is that they use an inherently messy, challenging approach to self-reflexively tackle that process in human beings becoming self-aware and connecting as they escape from societal confines in norms. All three of these characters tap into the powers of their agency and engage in a process of contemplation for the weight of their actions on others (direct or indirect moral consequences, the power of intuition and empathic joining).

The only way to actually exhibit this in the way Wenders envisions appears to be to use esoteric filmmaking choices that break norms as well. Wenders' approach is somehow aggressively different yet also draws ethereal meditations in extended, ambient (sometimes apparently directionless) scenes that elicit a spirituality coexisting in industrial spaces. I think Land of Plenty is the best of Wenders' efforts in this respect, but his pattern of "road movies of the soul" strain my ability to make much sense of them beyond an unusual emotional response. I'm not sure that's a flaw though. While tighter films have balanced tonal shifts in more accessible means, Wenders doesn't seem to be interested in expressing his meditative comprehension of the world outside of looseness and a flood of tones constantly overlapping. The themes of violence are apparent in the film itself, but it's the acts of breaking from the mold and asserting one's potential in identity that violently rip from the expected, yet also end the violence those passive functions perpetuate when we are asleep at the wheel in mass. If we treat life as a "road movie of the soul" then spiritual experiences like the connection in Land of Plenty actually do take place, and maybe not quite as cinematic a storyline as in The End of Violence, but taken apart as minor gestures, it's a series of real, authentic positivity to be admired and to inspire.

[Stefan Andersson]

Hello!

Is there info online anywhere about the songs (and maybe the scenes they were heard in) included in the 1972 version of Goalie´s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, but not included in the restoration due to clearance issues?

I´ve looked online and only found brief references to songs by Elvis Presley and Rolling Stones.

Many thanks in advance for any links!

[DeprongMori]

Hello!

Is there info online anywhere about the songs (and maybe the scenes they were heard in) included in the 1972 version of Goalie´s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, but not included in the restoration due to clearance issues?

I´ve looked online and only found brief references to songs by Elvis Presley and Rolling Stones.

Many thanks in advance for any links!

In this excellent interview with Wim Wenders in Little White Lies about his film restoration process, he talks about the specific challenges they faced in clearing the music rights for The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick and how they handled the situation where they just couldn’t clear the rights.

[Stefan Andersson]

Summer in the City to be restored:
https://www.ffa.de/pressemitteilungen-d ... r-66-filme

[zedz]

Great news! (As long as the songs aren’t all replaced.)