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MARCH 26 – APRIL 12

Don't Come Knocking || Paris, Texas || Tokyo-Ga || The American Friend || Land of Plenty || Wings of Desire

WIM WENDERS' WESTERN DREAM

Son of a surgeon, Wim Wenders (b. 1945) was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on the same day World War II finally ended in the Pacific.

Wenders is one the three principal architects of the German New Wave (along with the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the bulletproof Werner Herzog).

  Having worked on over 100 films throughout his career, Wenders is best identified with his personal view of the vast American expanse, a vista which the director has made his own.  His distinctive take on style and brilliant cinematography has confirmed his place as one of the great filmmakers of our time. 

Often thoughtful, surreal and contemplative, Wenders’ vast expanse of work ranges from fashion documentaries to cinematic explorations on universal themes such as violence, religion and love.

Senses of Cinema Wim Wenders by Dave Tacon

Interview with Wim Wenders

7:30 MON 26 MARCH

DON’T COME KNOCKING

Wim Wenders  France/Germany/USA  2005  122mins 35mm (M)

Sam Shepard (Days of Heaven, The Right Stuff, Thunderheart) wrote this role of a fictional famous Western film star for himself.  His character, after a lifetime of dissolute, undisciplined behaviour, literally rides away from a film shoot to seek out his meagre family roots and eventually finds the offspring he never knew he had. Don’t Come Knocking plays like a reflective ballad that shifts from the understated to intense fiery hues, all the while complimented by a moody score by T-Bone Burnett. The writing is sharp, the tone reflective and the experience ultimately rewarding.

THURS 29 MARCH

PARIS, TEXAS

Wim Wenders  France/West Germany  1984  147mins 35mm (M)

Wenders’ collaboration with writer Sam Shepard is supreme. Harry Dean Stanton (Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man), Dean Stockwell (Dune, To Live and Die in L.A., Blue Velvet) and Nastassja Kinski (To the Devil a Daughter, Tess, Cat People) all drift through the timeless neverland of the decrepid West as if it is the only place they could be. Sad, sublime, extraordinary filmmaking which, with Ry Cooder’s legendary score, is a film to see before you die.

Winner of the Palme d’Or, Cannes 1984 & winner of Best Direction, BAFTA Film Awards 1985

"It is a story of the United States, a grim portrait of a land where people like Travis and Jane cannot put down roots, a story of a sprawling, powerful, richly endowed land where people can get desperately lost." Newsweek

"Paris, Texas" is a movie with the kind of passion and willingness to experiment that was more common fifteen years ago than it is now. It has more links with films like "Five Easy Pieces" and "Easy Rider" and "Midnight Cowboy," than with the slick arcade games that are the box-office winners of the 1980s. It is true, deep, and brilliant. Roger Ebert

Paris, Texas resonates as much for its backdrop as for anything going on in the foreground. Cued to a spare Ry Cooder score inspired by Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night," Wenders and first-rate photographer Robby Müller (Down By Law) evoke the gorgeous Texas sprawl as a reflection of the hero's barren, mournful spirit. When the film ends on a note of weary optimism, it feels like a hard-won miracle. Scott Tobias

NY Times Review by Vincent Canby

Fan Site

MON 2 APRIL

TOKYO-GA

Wim Wenders  USA/ West Germany  1985  92mins 16mm (18+)

Twenty years after the death of legendary Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu (Record of a Tenement Gentleman, Tokyo Story, Floating Weeds), Wenders travels (during a break in the shooting of Paris, Texas) to Japan in search of the world that exists within Ozu’s films.  The result of Wenders’ journey, this film presents a broad and often bizarre look at Japanese culture and how it greatly differs from Ozu’s traditional Japan. Some poignant and touching moments include interviews with renowned filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Chris Marker and long-time Ozu collaborator & cinematographer, Yuharu Atsuta.  

New York Times Review by Vincent Canby  (Regn. reqd)

"Wenders bops around Tokyo with the assurance of a skilled filmmaker, and emerges with an understated but certainly curious sociological postcard of '80s Tokyo. Peter Canavese

Screens with

CHAMBRE 666

Wim Wenders  France/West Germany  1982  45mins  16mm (18+)
“Is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?” This is the question pondered by such luminaries as Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog & Steven Spielberg, in this short project, shot during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. This side-project of Wenders gives viewers a series of intimate sessions with several of the world’s most respected filmmakers as they speak from the heart about their beloved medium.

THURS 5 APRIL

THE AMERICAN FRIEND

Wim Wenders  France/West Germany 1977  127mins 16mm (M)

Winner of the 1977 German Critic’s Prize and based on the novel Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith, The American Friend stars Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider, Mad Dog Morgan, Blue Velvet) as the iconic career criminal Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, Wings of Desire, Downfall) as Jonathan Zimmermann, a hapless man who is conned into becoming a murderer in what he believes are his last days. This film is notable for its sly humour, edge-of-your-seat action, authentic human relationships and superbly rounded characters.

The book was recently filmed as Ripley’s Game with John Malkovich and Purple Noon, Strangers on a Train are all versions of the same story.

The film, like most of Wenders' work, is also a personal meditation on the acts of seeing and looking. Wenders handles the thriller aspects of his saga expertly in what is easily one of his most accessible and enjoyable pictures. Emanuel Levy

In this homage to the great films noir of the post-World War II era, German director Wim Wenders creates something that is uniquely European while being recognizably an addition to the noir genre. Goatdog

And the look of the film is hypnotic: The brashness and deepness of the colors, the exaggeration of lighting and setting, the extraordinary subtlety of some scenes and the almost aggressively cheap and garish look of others. That's really what Wenders has to offer here, Roger Ebert

Ripley Games by Geoff Gardner

There's almost no narrative at all to American Friend. It's almost a literalization of the atmospheric description embedded in the label of "film noir."
Yes, and noir at it's core is such a pessimistic, desperate thing--it grows from war and depression and I'm not, I guess, a pessimistic kind of guy. I like those movies, but deep in my soul, I'm an optimist, I guess--a romantic. Deep in my soul I couldn't subscribe completely to those notions. You look at a dark story like the Highsmith story that film is based on and the challenge is to make something that is different than its source while trying to honour it. Not everyone thought that film was a success. Wim Wenders

MON 9 APRIL

LAND OF PLENTY

Wim Wenders  Germany/USA  2004 123mins 35mm (M)

An earnest look at post 9/11 America, this film, shot on hand-held digital, follows Lana (Michelle Williams), a young American woman who has recently returned home from Palestine, and her uncle Paul (John Diehl), an ultra-patriotic Vietnam veteran who mistrusts Middle Eastern people to the point of paranoia. As Paul continues to spy on and film his Arab neighbours, Lana struggles to see the difference between the Third World and the slums of LA. In an era where practically every nation feels the impact of the war on terror, Land of Plenty presents an honest and balanced view of the sweet land of liberty. Winner of the UNESCO Award, Venice Film Festival 2004.

If Land of Plenty isn't always elegant, it has the inexpressible aura of mystery and wonder that exemplifies his best work. Fans will feel echoes of both "Paris, Texas" and "The State of Things" here. Like those movies, this one is less an angry critique than a sad meditation on the American dream, something Wim Wenders understands well and has never been able to resist. Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

The flawed, fascinating Land of Plenty is easily Wenders’ most vital work in more than a decade.Scott Foundas L.A. Weekly

THURS 12 APRIL

WINGS OF DESIRE

Wim Wenders  France/West Germany  1987 127mins 35mm (PG)

A beautiful and poetic work, telling the story of two angels, played by Bruno Ganz & Otto Sander (The Tin Drum, Das Boot, Faraway, So Close!), who observe the city of Berlin and its people towards the end of the Cold War. One falls for the lovely and talented but profoundly lonely trapeze artist, Marion (Solveig Dommartin) and begins to long for mortal human existence.

Shot partially in sepia-tinted monochrome and featuring music by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who also appear in the film. Wings of Desire is a haunting and spiritual experience that explores the human longing for life, love and the real experiences that define what it is to be alive.

With music by Nick Cave (inter alia).

Winner of Best Director, Cannes 1987.

Wim Wenders returns to Germany with a sublimely beautiful, deeply romantic film for our times. Variety

The universal appeal of Wings of Desire has to do with the way that it addresses not merely angels above a divided city, but all of us struggling with the divided natures of our lives and our souls. Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

Wings is a soaring vision that appeals to the senses and the spirit. Washington Post - Desson Thomson

Wings of Desire works hard to be both an essay and a love story, a mural and an intimate portrait. To savor this film, the viewer must work hard too. But when the artists behind the screen and the angels in the audience meet, it's like a smoke and coffee: fantastic! Time Richard Corliss