Paris, Texas
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Movie Reviews of Paris, Texas
Movie Review: Paris: A City of Three Tongues
Summary: 5 Stars
Paris Texas: It does not matter which Paris comes to mind at the mention of the city because it is an etheral illusion which binds European
and American cities, alike.
I have seen this movie several times. I have just seen the DVD of Paris, Texas. Wenders' running commentary confirmed what I'd always thought: The dialogue between Travis on Jane is the heart of the movie.
Perhaps, I am a bit overly cerebral and analytical, but I do not thing it is insignificant Travis shows up in Terlingua, that is "Ter", (three) "lingua", (tongue).
There are three tongues at play in life, not just Travis' life; the (first) unspoken tongue of action without words, the (second) tongue of illusion, that is one's altered
view of reality, and then, the (third) tongue of the real/healing, understanding, peace and reconciliation. Incidentally, there is a strong similiarity between
the english word "language" and the spanish "lengua" for "tongue".
A speechless (first tongue) Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) emerges from the southwest Texas desert to collapse and awaken under the care of the local doctor in Terlingua. What soon becomes apparent to Travis once he is reunited with civilization and his brother's family and his son in Los Angeles is that he must find his ex-wife.
Before doing so, the humbled Travis accepts the maid's (Socorro Valdez) counsel on how he must not only look like a father, but be a father to his son, Hunter
No. This is not a "I'll-get-my-gun-and. . ." all too common, cheap, mindless storyline. It is the story of a man who has "come around" to see the indulgence and
consequences of his own warped illusion of love and jealousy in his marriage to Jane (Nastassja Kinski).
This illusion (second tongue), or deception of self, is revealed by Travis to his brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) to break his reticence. He shows Walt a picture of Paris Texas he has treasured for years. It is a picture of a vacant lot. A purchase made by Travis in his quest to discover and connect with his
origins. Paris is, his parents told him, where he was conceived.
Paris Texas is about the game of illusion people play for their amusement and sometimes at the expense of others. Certainly, it was Travis' father's amusement growing up when he would engage people and allow them to spin their own web at his mention of having met his wife in Paris; _ Ahh, Europe, Paris, the beautiful city, the place of dreams, romance, love, relationships. Then he would drop the other shoe, _ Texas, ha ha.
Illusion took an ugly, bitter, mean turn for Travis compounded by his drunkeness. Believing his wife to be unfaithful with other men he would bind her to deprive
her of her dignity and freedom.
None of this, the illusion, or second tongue, is part of the movie. It is recounted in the form of a vague, impersonal narrative, "I knew these people", on the phone across a one-way mirror to the beautiful Nastassja Kinski, Travis' ex-wife in Houston. Interestingly, there's no whining, pinning or palming the mirror or a longing to reunite. Travis shows no desire to see her, only to talk. This (third tongue) is the heart of Paris Texas.
Wenders has done a masterful job with this box-office flop, internationally critically acclaimed movie. In its aftermath came a string of siblings-cross-country-trek
movies and commercials such as Rain Man and Budweiser commercials of greedy people begrudging their last beer to the thirsty soul at their door. Five years
later Claire Denis, Wenders' Assistant Director gave us her own materpiece, Chocolat.
Although decidedly of American culture I found much of my Mexican heritage in Paris Texas. Particularly, the recurring, "Cancion Mixteca" melody which could
as well be Agustin Lara's, "Se Me Hizo Facil", "It seemed easy". There's a line in the former which could well summarize Travis' life: "Oh, that I would
die of loneliness". The latter seems even closer to Travis: "I abandoned her because it was the thing to do. It seemed easy", only to gulp his bitterness later.
Ry Cooder's raw acoustic steel trembling slide evokes the trembling, sliding descent into chaos by those who cuddle illusion. Alas, their illusion has become
reality.
I expect Paris Texas will re-emerge some time in the future to be appreciated for the so-unamerican, beautiful, slow-pace story of human interaction, tragedy,
sacrifice, selflessness, humility, acceptance, reconciliation and peace. It is a warm movie and an eye-opener for those whose default course of action in relationships gone awry is violence. If the recent reviews found here are any indication I'd say a movement has begun!
The movie script is the work of Sam Shephard. Sometime I would really love to hear his thoughts about this script for this German/French and American
film: Another three tongues.
Movie Review: A must see...again and again
Summary: 5 Stars
Few films are truly worthy of repeated viewings. Few films give more and more with every sitting. 'Paris, Texas' is one such film. The creative baby of writer, Sam Shepherd and director, Wim Wenders, 'Paris, Texas' is a cinematic masterpiece. A film experience that demands complete involvement from the viewer. For those willing to wrestle with the questions this film throws out there, the returns are plentiful indeed. This is a journey film. A journey into and through two themes many can relate to: what it means to be lost and to finally come home.
The opening scene throws you straight into the world of the lost. A baseball-capped, bearded man marches through breathtaking desert carrying a milk jug once full of water. He's going somewhere but where? Only he knows the direction.
Soon though, the stranger reaches civilization. He walks into a boondock bar and spies an ice-maker. Greedily devouring the precious substance, he then collapses. Waking up, the doctor asks the film's most important question, 'What are you running from?' No answer, only a stare. The doctor finds a name card on the stranger and rings up the number. The voice on the other end is Walt (Dean Stockwell) whose brother, Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) has been missing for the last four years. Disappeared without a trace and now found. A miracle.
Walt decides to reclaim his 'lost possession' and comes to take Travis 'home.' Walt asks the obvious, 'Where you been Travis?' Silence. Walt tries to ease Travis back into the world of the living with new clothes and shoes. Confused, Travis tries to escape, but Walt fetches him again. As they travel back to Walt's home in LA, Travis reluctantly familiarizes himself with a world he had abandonned four years ago. Words begin to drop out of his mouth, then sentences, but never concrete answers.
Travis too had lived at one time in LA. With wife and child. His son, Hunter, is his only solid key to who he was. Unsure of how to reconnect with Hunter, Travis soon resolves to be a 'father' again. He spends time with him, walking him home from school, attempting to erase the last four years. Still not completely sure who this man is, Hunter starts to recall and reclaim the father he once had. The only thing missing is his mother, Jane (Nastassija Kinski). Travis feels that Hunter needs his real mother and aims to bring them together again.
By tracing her latest bank deposit, they track her down in Houston, Texas where she works as a peep show girl. Not a real prostitute, she's kinda of a phone-sex girl who listens to her client's 'problems' behind a one-way mirror. Which is where Travis finally makes contact with her. Travis tells her a story of a broken relationship. Thinking this is just some regular client, Jane plays the part of eager listener. Travis' story is about two people so 'in love,' they forget just 'who' they are in love with. They push each other away, leaving behind them a stark reminder of their delusion, a child. Travis' story is their story. As it unfolds, Kinski's Jane dominates the screen. You are glued to her every twitch, glance, teardrop, bottomless gaze as she begins to realize who's on the other side. With this cathartic reunion, the film reaches its climax. Now they must decide. Will they continue where they left off four years ago or will they continue down their separate paths, broken and lost souls? Both make very different choices, choices that might upset those accustomed to a more happy sense of closure.
By the time the film's 134 minutes were up, I felt like I had been smacked upside the head. By something grand and inpenetrable like life itself. And I dare to think that Wenders and Shepherd wanted exactly this. To leave you stunned, perplexed and relieved all in one. Despite the heavy-handed questions 'Paris, Texas' presents, it answers very few of them. This is world without Deus Machina. No metaphysical chariots coming to save the day. The world of Travis, Jane and Hunter is a hard existential world where we make our own endings, be they happy or tragic. The American West portrayed here is a cold and lonely place, but also one of rare beauty, a place open to new beginnings, to starting over right. This film can teach us something. Many things for that matter. In vivid colors, it shows the cost of selfishly pursuing our dreams, of always yearning after Paris, France rather than accepting Paris, Texas, of always lusting after something or somebody better rather than accepting what we have. Life isn't all desolation and hot rocks, it has its hidden springs as well. We just need to find them, to return to them. For home isn't a place, its the people you love.
Movie Review: A Beautiful Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Paris, Texas is a real place. Supposedly, the main character, Travis, claims his old father once said he was conceived in Paris, Texas, some tiny dusty ghost of a town blistering in the dry heat of the Mojave somewhere in the center of Texas. Hardly the Paris we'd all first assume.
We find Travis lost, depressed, mute and alone in the center of the hot summer Texan drylands.
Like an egg cooking, we are slowly introduced into this shy and sad character's life. A doctor finds him with only a single clue, a business card in his pocket. The name of the person on the card happens to be his brother (Dean Stanton) in Los Angeles.
From here, the story develops when Travis'es brother's character is developed. We see how his brother took care of his son and then we are introduced into his brother's household where we meet his son Sullivan who vaguely remembers his biological father, Travis and refers to his uncle and aunt as "mom and dad."
The movie slowly unpeels Travis'es life like a gentle emotional nostalgic striptease, until nearly 1 hour and 50 minutes into the film, we finally discover who Travis's lover and who Sullivan's true biological mother is.
It's a slowly developing movie that is patient and true to the nature of our protaganist who has gone 4 years without talking and who has changed as a result of the path in life he's taken.
Wim Wenders, director of "Wings of Desire" has his signature cinematographic touches and as always, patiently introduces us to new characters in an intriguing manner.
The late introduction of Natasha Kinski's character was beautifully done as we develop a picture of her and finally are introduced to her mystically in a red car riding through through tributary freeways of Houston, Texas. So much development is made of her character, that, when we are finally introduced to her, in a seedy joint with "pay to talk to chicks booths", she portrays the very goddess like appeal and attraction that Travis'es character has for her. The sordid location served little significance.
Her acting is convincing and angelically portrayed, and beautifully written.
Visually, the movie is ethereal. The night colors of Los Angeles are remarkable. The landscapes invinceable. There is also an intriguing interpretation of America from a German Director. Sometimes the character mannerisms, behaviors and dialogues are too European and unAmericanly directed. But all and all, I love this movie as I appreciate most Wim Wenders movies.
My favorite scene was easily the scene with Sullivan and Travis chasing mom on the freeways of Houston. It was an exciting, romantic artistic creation.
The scene of the man screaming above the noisey, apathetic Los Angeles traffic was gripping too.
Travis aria to Kinski beyond the dark barrier of a peepshow booth in the third person was oscar award winning.
Movie Review: A meditation on how to achieve honesty in a difficult world
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is about beneficial role that modern media can sometimes play in difficult situations in achieving honesty that heals.
At the start of the film, the main character is discovered silently wandering in the desert near the Tex-Mex border. A doctor locates the man's brother from a note in the man's wallet and the brother, a suburbanite from California, comes out to bring him home. Seems the man just up and disappeared several years before after a break-up with his wife. Slowly drawn out by his brother, the lost man begins to talk, though mostly in riddles, but always honestly, and by the time they get back to California, his human side has re-surfaced, though we can feel what an effort is in for him and also his uncertainty about wanting to return. There he is introduced to his small son, adopted by the brother and his wife after the boy's mother left the son with them. After delicate manoevers, the boy and his father get back in touch, and both decide they want to find the mother.
The father and son take off for a city from which the mother has been sending monthly checks and, on the correct day, wait outside the bank where she deposits them. When the mother appears they follow her to the building where she works. Leaving the boy in the car, the father goes in and discovers a telephone-sex house, where women sit behind a one-way mirror and talk to or perform for the men who talk through a telephone on the dark side of the mirror. After an aborted attempt, a good dose of liquor, and a night's sleep, the father returns to the place on the next day. When his wife comes in, he tells her he wants to tell her a story, turns his chair around away from the mirror, and proceeds to tell her what happened in their lives leading to their break-up. She, of course, soon realizes who it is, and weeps through his story: how he went on jealousy fits, how he tried to keep her in and tie her down because he was afraid to lose her, how much she meant to him. When he finishes, he is so overwhelmed with emotion that he gets up to leave, but she calls him back, by name. They look around for a switch to see if she can reverse the lighting so she can see him - the first time she's ever tried to do this - and she takes her turn on the telephone telling him what went on in her mind.
This medium of telephone distance is the only way the two of them are able to be honest enough to sort out the confusion of an intense, problematic relationship. If either of them had tried to be this honest "in person", one or both of them might well have still been too upset to handle it. But the space which the telephone set-up allows them provides the right neutral territory to be fully honest, about feelings, mistakes, regrets, and guilt. A rapprochement of sorts is reached.
The movie will not be ruined by this synopsis; god is in the details. A gorgeous and in the end uplifting film.
Movie Review: A Man Wanders An Exquisite Wilderness
Summary: 5 Stars
Paris, Texas is a profoundly beautiful film that certainly belongs in any film collection worthy of the name. It rewards on all levels, cinematography, story, acting, and heart - even soundtrack. The picture takes you to an eerie and exotic place, both literally and emotionally, and maintains its high-wire level of vivid authenticity for each and every one of its 147 minutes. Put simply, this is filmmaking at its very best - Paris, Texas surely earned its 1984 Palme d'Or.
In Paris, Texas, very little happens - and it happens at a leisurely pace. Director Wim Wenders uses time opulently, painting nuanced details on a vast canvas; we're well into the movie before Travis (our protagonist) even speaks. The austere Texas landscapes Travis wanders seem haunted by an exquisite spiritual longing and emptiness, perfectly majestic and perfectly designed to torment him.
Harry Dean Stanton (Travis) is a reliably excellent actor, but Paris, Texas is his masterpiece. He does so much with so little that, even though his character is oddly extreme, we care about him instantly. We don't know why he's walked through hell, and neither does he, but we need to know. As we learn more, we must discover what happened to his son and wife, and what will happen to them all.
Dean Stockwell, a consistent and underappreciated actor, has his hands full as Walt, brother to Travis. He and his wife must try to reel Travis back into reality, and in so doing, reacquaint Travis with Hunter; the son he left behind when he went missing four years ago. That Walt and wife have been Hunter's parents all that time, and are putting the love for their adopted son in jeopardy by reuniting Travis and Hunter, is only one of the film's many difficult moral and emotional choices. But Walt is a good brother, and his self-sacrifice foreshadows even greater acts of selflessness to come.
Viewers who surrender to the spell of this movie will wear their emotions outside their skin; there is vulnerability, openness, and poignancy that is sometimes almost unbearable. Hunter Carson, as the son abandoned not once but twice, (father and mother), is marvelously unaffected and likeable. Watching Travis build something good with his long-lost son is a joy. Wenders has faultless timing, his direction is masterful. He makes us wait for the payday, admittedly, but when it arrives, it is even better than we had any right to expect. Nastassja Kinski, as Jane, estranged wife of Travis and Hunter's mom, is astounding. The scene between her and Travis is as chilling, real, and poetic as anything I have ever seen on film.
Choosing Ry Cooder to do the score was an inspired decision, there is a plaintive, melancholy loveliness to his solo guitar that is perfectly at home in the barren, hurt landscapes of both the heart, and the Texas badlands.