In the final moments, it seems that Travis didn't make a genuine effort to reunite with her because deep down, he acknowledges that he hasn't truly transformed. His enduring love for her, evident when he watches old videos with his son, suggests that the core of his feelings remains unchanged. Travis understands that when he's in love, his ability to work and provide for her diminishes, and he fears falling back into the same patterns as before. In his four years of quest, Travis comes to accept the painful reality that, even if they were to reconcile, the same challenges would likely resurface. It's a melancholic conclusion, but one grounded in the harsh realism of their situation.
My guess is, from the soliloquy when he said, "you weren't jealous, you didn't ask where I was." "if you're not jealous, then you showed you don't love me." Additionally, so much of the story is the vastness of emptiness, longing, pain.... as much as you want it to end well, rectify...from a storytelling standpoint, it would pull some of the weight and magnitude away from the theme of emptiness that is so thickly present in the ether of this film. Roger Ebert wrote beautifully, "practical and logical objections can be raised about this story. Wenders uses the materials of realism, but this is a fable, about archetypal longings set in American myth." This film packs a very unexpected punch. One that will stay with you a long while.
Agreed. For me it was when Jane first sniffled behind the glass. At first I thought it was a rare filmmaking gaffe. Why was the mic so loud, under her chin. Then the camera pans to show you the insulation in the wall. (It was about here I was frightened I may get emotional and let it out.) Then the audio seemed to shift, we hear Travis on the speaker, her emoting is close to us. Exactly at the moment she is realizing its Travis, exactly at the moment we are seeing her heart and inner beauty. The insulation, the ugliness of the view of the world from her perspective is insanely well thought out.
I just watched this movie again a few months ago after having not watched it for more two decades, and the impact of it still is as strong as ever. When Paris Texas came out in 1984 I was part of the San Francisco music scene. And I found it really interesting how powerfully that film affected the underground music community in SF and around the country. To such a degree that I think it can lay claim at leas in part to gestating what would come to be known as Alt Country and Americana music. Not just from the brilliant Ry Cooder score but from the poignant images of tortured lives and lonely landscapes that it evoked.
Great review. Watching this again soo many years later - as a father /parent of now 2 young adult boys - the scenes with Hunter and hits deep. The scene where Hunter is listening to the tape in the Houston hotel room and Travis says "I love you more than my life" totally wrecked me, not only because of how the scene and acting was composed, but how that line is inherently true of any parent.
Thank you for that thoughtful review. This truly is one of my favourite films of all time and I hate how it has just been reduced to its aesthetics on Tumblr yet there so much that it so moving and profound in the cinematography informs the story that is being in such a beautiful and melancholic way.
My favorite film ever. Huge inspiration on my wanting to make films, but also a huge influence on me as a musician. Ry Cooder's score is achingly beautiful.
One of the finest nuanced leading man roles ever. Perfectly lost and beat down cool. There's always something of a story behind a man exiting a desert in a suit!!
I've been hoping you would review this at some point. This was one of those films I could tell upon first viewing that it would be a favorite of mine. Great review!
I remember thinking this was one of the best movies I'd ever seen (mainly due to the intensity of the final act) when I saw it some years ago, wonder if I'd feel the same way about it today, thinking of myself as 'knowing' a lot more about film now than back then. The key image/edit for me was near the beginning, a close-up of Travis appearing to stand in front of a very 'American' city skyline, only to edit to another shot from an angle that shows he's standing in front of a wall painted in a gaudy mural. That's the best kind of cinematic image, that says MORE than a thousand words. And the key emotion is loneliness, quite strongly. btw the final shot of Travis leaving is (it has to be assumed intentional) echo of John Ford's the Searchers (I think thematically, the Searchers, Taxi Driver, and Paris, Texas would be a very powerful triple-bill_
Great review! I just watched this movie again recently after not seeing it since my senior year of high school in 2002. As a single father raising a high school boy now, the ending scene with Hunter and Jane ripped me to shreds and hit harder than it did then. You can see where color lighting moods and composition with brooding tone and emotion carry the film scene to scene. It’s more less the proto A24 formula of film making. Anyway, sorry to ramble. Again, great review! You gotta new sub.
I'm glad you found Paris, Texas meaningful. I too think it is a brilliant film and it touched me very deeply emotionally. I believe that the budget for Paris, Texas was only 3 million dollars--amazing. The original play/script was written by Sam Shepard. "Buried Child" and "Paris, Texas" are his best in my opinion. Thank you for your wonderful review!
Fully agreed, Maggie. That third act is so shocking and heartbreaking it's making my eyes tear up just thinking about it. It elevates the movie from a good indie movie to arguably the most touching American movie of all time.
This and Wings of Desire are my favorite Wim Wenders moovies - we covered Wings of Desire on Indie Film Cafe's Criterion Watch show, and I want to do Paris, Texas for Film Freaks! Glad to see you're talking about it too! :=8)
🤠 This has always been my favorite movie for as long as I can remember. It was so nice to see this post, and I think you nailed it when it comes to the deeper meanings of the film. Sam Shepard wrote an amazing story. It was acted beautifully. The cinematography was brilliant. And Ry Cooder's score adds so much to the tone of the movie. Thanks for your review! 👍
My first watch a couple of years ago was a Criterion Collection version. Looks amazing. Recently watched a video on the representation of the colors of the scenes that was quite interesting. 🎉
I've seen this movie 3 times most recently seeing it a few months back on a big screen for the first time at AFS cinemas here in Austin. This is one of my favorite movies, for many of the reasons you've cited. I didn't remember that much about Ann the last time I saw it(probably many years ago) but this time my heart really broke for her over losing Hunter. Also this time I fell in love with Ry Cooder's score. I'll put in a plug for two other Wender's films, Wings of Desire and Until The End of The World. Though I've only seen Until The End of The World once many years ago(it seems like in another life) I'm almost afraid to see it again for fear that I might have built up the experience I had watching in my head over these many years and not like it as much. I know that's silly. What I do remember while watching it was being taken on this exciting journey(it's a rather long movie). It's one of those movies where you think about life differently for the next few days. Anyway I should just watch it again.
This film was given away free as a dvd in a cardboard sleeve on the front of a newspaper here in the UK. I love a freebie and this was one of the best as I'd never seen the film before. The cinematography was amazing.
One of those movies that has a wonderfully strange atmosphere. I haven't seen it for years. Thanks for the reminder to seek out my Bluray Being half German... not trying to be a vanker but definitely Vim Venders
I almost never hear native English speakers pronounce his name the German way. Same goes for Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbender and Michael Haneke. I've lived in Germany for 14 years and plenty of folks here, mainly in media, rarely pronounce non-German names "properly", so we'll just call it even.
@@mordantfilmsMein Gott! I'm guilty of multilingual mispronunciation my friend! It vos chust meine kleine vanker choke more zan ennisink but danke fur das extra info. Alles gute✌️
Totally agree about the final act in this film, it touched my soul haha also glad you mentioned the attractiveness of Jane aswell...i was kind of stunned by her beauty watching her on the screen.
🙌 Awesome Video I can’t express how much I love this movie. I can just think of the soundtrack and get a tear haha. Love the colors, everything If I start talking about it I could go on and on. David Lynch slid his way into this for sure, I thought that too. Favorite scenes besides the mirror scene Walt talking to Travis in the diner and Travis first going into the building and seeing Jane sitting down Great video!!!!! I have to watch it this weekend now
To me good companion piece to this film is Lucky (2017) starring Harry Dean Stanton as Lucky. The film is about Lucky's spiritual journey on his lasts days confronting love, family, death on a desert town. Note: Stanton died on 2017 aged 91. Oh, and David Lynch plays a character.
Agree with everything you said. It’s a magical film in every way. Curious about your thoughts on other Wenders films like The American Friend and Wings of Desire. I love them all. Keep up the great thoughtful content!
I finally watched this movie last yr after somehow missing it when it came out. (I went to a ton of movies in the 80's) I don't have your impeccable vocabulary, so I'll just say this was one fucking, amazing movie that made me cry and think about it for weeks.
Absolutely, the ending to this film has stayed with me since the middle of 2022. Does anyone else think that it was strange that Travis left his son alone in the hotel room with no timetable of anyone returning?
@@jimhowaniec yes, at the very end. I was talking about when he left his son alone with the letter to go and see the boy’s mother for the last time. There was no one there to watch him for at least an hour or two, right?
I took ballet classes along with Nastassja Kinski every single day in 1978. She was the most beautiful thing on two feet. Really astonishing beauty. Every now and then Roman Polanski would stop by as he was best friends with my teacher Stefan Wenta.
Listening to you makes me wish I was intelligent. I loved the movie but my review would go: it's got a great chilled out desert vibe with some emotional family stuff going on.
I guess the movie might feel Lynchian because the main cast hsve all gone on to work with him - Stanton a bunch of times, Stockwell memorably in Blue Velvet, and even Kinski was apparently in Inland Empire (admittedly I don't remember that last one...)
I'm so curious as to why this film has seemingly picked up attention and discussion in the past year (2023?) Why now? For me, it was Roger Deakins podcast, and I put it off to watch over the holidays. He keeps going back to it, over and over as a formative film in his development as a cinematographer. Why 2023 all of a sudden (a film festival? a streaming release?)
My favorite part of the movie was when they went on the Joe Rogan podcast and talked about how glad they are to not be in the dumpster fire that is California.
only one of the Wim Wenders films I've seen that I disliked. Did I really miss something with the Bruno Ganz character, who seems to suspect nothing when a mob guy trying to make him do a hit hands him his medical results instead of maybe a doctor?
@@helvete_ingres4717 I don't know. That's one of the strangest movies I've ever seen & I love it. I can't answer your question, I can't explain the ending nor can I describe the relationship between Dennis Hopper's character and Bruno Ganz's character. All I know is that I love every minute of it. The subway station and the train fight sequences are absolutely great. The relationship between the 2 main characters is so unorthodox and so hard to pin point what they are, but I think that's why it's so captivating to watch. At least to me. But I can understand your reasons for disliking the movie.
I dont think that at the ending he is leaving hunter forever, he just isnt ready to share a family with her. it is a much more complex and unique ending the one we have rather than a cliche family hug. he is leaving because he needs to digest a lot after seeing hunter reuniting with his mom but after the end i believe he will need and desire to see hunter regularly because he loves him more than his own life as he says but he might not be ready to share time all together as a family.
I'm probably a terrible human being for saying this, but I enjoyed Wild At Heart by Lynch more than Paris, Texas. It's gaudy, surreal, ramped up to eleven, and basically so awful it's orgasmically charming. I mention it because it's also of the "road movie" genre and features the late, great Harry Dean Stanton, among others.
I know it's a stretch, but - it's interesting to view the boy as Travis himself, on his journey to becoming his own man. All children must essentially become their own parental figures at a certain point, either by leaving home or by falling in love or by dedicating yourself to something outside of the environment that birthed you. Viewed in that light, it becomes a strange sort of quasi-psychological drama.
I just watched Paris, Texas for the 3rd time recently and was really disappointed by the final scene in the peep show. It seemed like way too much exposition by both Kinski and Stanton-both of who I love up until that scene. I think partly it’s the screenplay (I know, Sam Shepard is the shit) but also Stanton’s delivery just seems bad to me. I remember not liking the movie when it came out, then loving it 10 years later, and now loving it right up until that scene. Maybe I’ll change my mind in another 10 years.
Ah yes, the illusive retelling of a timeless romance between a 48 year old man & a 17 year old CHILD. ❤❤❤ A CHILD who relentless suffers from a deep rooted desire of fleeing her current circumstances of having brought a child into the world with a man closer to her grandfathers age, so much so that the pdf file has to chain her to the stove. I swear people forget the facts so dang fast that their heads should literally be snapping off of their bodies. 😂
The way you started that sentence was as if you were about to somehow critique the third act of this movie and I was ready to go ballistic. Also, this review popping up on my feed was ~~~ much ~~~~ more exciting than any movie trailer that’s been released in the last year. One of the best ever!!
There were plenty of moments in this film that I absolutely love, but I'm a bit uncomfortable about the ending [SPOILER ALERTS] A guy basically kidnaps a boy from a loving, stable household to leave him with a prostitute. I'm not sure I can get behind that as a payoff. Feel free to try and prove me wrong. I'll find the discussion intriguing...
@@thescoobymike I understand that, and it's a very good point, but the film "codes" it as though he made the right decision. I might have to watch it again; because I did enjoy the movie, but that part bugged me.
I finally got around to watching this movie recently after it had been on my must-see list for years. I love good art house, I admire the actors and I was ready to embrace ‘Paris’ as one of my all-time favourites. But I’m afraid this movie didn’t ring true for me either plausibly or emotionally. It was asking me to believe that a guy who had abandoned his wife and child, chained his wife to a stove and was too emotionally messed up even to speak for four years should, just in the space of a few weeks (days?), get it together enough not only to reconcile with his brother and sister-in-law and son and former wife, but then magnanimously turn away again from his wife and son out of the goodness of his heart. Sure, miraculous things can happen in human lives…but this just felt contrived. It was also asking me to believe that a boy who’d started out with one father and briefly had two would be content to be fatherless, in the care of a mother who had abandoned him. The argument that the plot shouldn’t be taken literally because the movie’s message was symbolic doesn’t wash for me, because there’s nothing in the screenplay to suggest that the events don’t take place in the literal world. I’m a huge fan of David Lynch; but Lynch lets you know in no uncertain terms that he’s delving into dream states and altered realities. The world of Paris, Texas might be metaphorical, but it’s not surreal. Then there’s the scene with the mirror. I love movies that push the boundaries of the medium. I was prepared to embrace the mirror scene as one of the most memorable in cinema. But for a start it breaks the golden rule of ‘show, don’t tell’. Travis’s monologue is pure exposition, backstory. Of course it’s also Travis’s way of letting Jane know who he is and how he has changed; but couldn’t the screenwriters have found a subtler way for him to do this? And where is Jane’s fear? We see her amused, puzzled, disconcerted, moved - but wouldn’t she also be terrified or at least deeply unnerved to realise that the man who had terrorised her for years had tracked her down and was now only metres away? Wouldn’t she be scared of the impending emotional upheaval, the pain of reopening old wounds? As a coup de grace, there’s the scene where the Latino maid instructs Travis that to gain his son’s admiration he needs to dress like Money. And he does! And it works! Outcast of the wilderness gains his son’s love by living the American Dream. American values win the day. Paris, Texas could have been one of the all-time greats, especially with that fabulous mirror scene, but I’m afraid for me it loses its way in the desert dust.
In the final moments, it seems that Travis didn't make a genuine effort to reunite with her because deep down, he acknowledges that he hasn't truly transformed. His enduring love for her, evident when he watches old videos with his son, suggests that the core of his feelings remains unchanged. Travis understands that when he's in love, his ability to work and provide for her diminishes, and he fears falling back into the same patterns as before. In his four years of quest, Travis comes to accept the painful reality that, even if they were to reconcile, the same challenges would likely resurface. It's a melancholic conclusion, but one grounded in the harsh realism of their situation.
My guess is, from the soliloquy when he said, "you weren't jealous, you didn't ask where I was." "if you're not jealous, then you showed you don't love me." Additionally, so much of the story is the vastness of emptiness, longing, pain.... as much as you want it to end well, rectify...from a storytelling standpoint, it would pull some of the weight and magnitude away from the theme of emptiness that is so thickly present in the ether of this film. Roger Ebert wrote beautifully, "practical and logical objections can be raised about this story. Wenders uses the materials of realism, but this is a fable, about archetypal longings set in American myth." This film packs a very unexpected punch. One that will stay with you a long while.
Robbie Mueller was one of the best cinematographers of all time
the greatest scene is when travis tells his story in the peep show where he visits the son's mom and reveals their back story. Masterful.
That scene is burned into my brain forever.
@@zakwan10 the famous "I knew these people ..."
Agreed. For me it was when Jane first sniffled behind the glass. At first I thought it was a rare filmmaking gaffe. Why was the mic so loud, under her chin. Then the camera pans to show you the insulation in the wall. (It was about here I was frightened I may get emotional and let it out.) Then the audio seemed to shift, we hear Travis on the speaker, her emoting is close to us. Exactly at the moment she is realizing its Travis, exactly at the moment we are seeing her heart and inner beauty. The insulation, the ugliness of the view of the world from her perspective is insanely well thought out.
It made me understand why he was just wandering aimlessly. He must’ve felt the greatest shame a man could possibly feel after what he’d done to her.
I just watched this movie again a few months ago after having not watched it for more two decades, and the impact of it still is as strong as ever. When Paris Texas came out in 1984 I was part of the San Francisco music scene. And I found it really interesting how powerfully that film affected the underground music community in SF and around the country. To such a degree that I think it can lay claim at leas in part to gestating what would come to be known as Alt Country and Americana music. Not just from the brilliant Ry Cooder score but from the poignant images of tortured lives and lonely landscapes that it evoked.
Great review. Watching this again soo many years later - as a father /parent of now 2 young adult boys - the scenes with Hunter and hits deep. The scene where Hunter is listening to the tape in the Houston hotel room and Travis says "I love you more than my life" totally wrecked me, not only because of how the scene and acting was composed, but how that line is inherently true of any parent.
Thank you for that thoughtful review. This truly is one of my favourite films of all time and I hate how it has just been reduced to its aesthetics on Tumblr yet there so much that it so moving and profound in the cinematography informs the story that is being in such a beautiful and melancholic way.
My favorite film ever. Huge inspiration on my wanting to make films, but also a huge influence on me as a musician. Ry Cooder's score is achingly beautiful.
One of the finest nuanced leading man roles ever. Perfectly lost and beat down cool. There's always something of a story behind a man exiting a desert in a suit!!
Great review thank you. Should mention that the soundtrack really makes the movie too! Such hauntingly beautiful music by Ry Cooder.
I've been hoping you would review this at some point. This was one of those films I could tell upon first viewing that it would be a favorite of mine. Great review!
I remember thinking this was one of the best movies I'd ever seen (mainly due to the intensity of the final act) when I saw it some years ago, wonder if I'd feel the same way about it today, thinking of myself as 'knowing' a lot more about film now than back then. The key image/edit for me was near the beginning, a close-up of Travis appearing to stand in front of a very 'American' city skyline, only to edit to another shot from an angle that shows he's standing in front of a wall painted in a gaudy mural. That's the best kind of cinematic image, that says MORE than a thousand words. And the key emotion is loneliness, quite strongly. btw the final shot of Travis leaving is (it has to be assumed intentional) echo of John Ford's the Searchers (I think thematically, the Searchers, Taxi Driver, and Paris, Texas would be a very powerful triple-bill_
Great review! I just watched this movie again recently after not seeing it since my senior year of high school in 2002. As a single father raising a high school boy now, the ending scene with Hunter and Jane ripped me to shreds and hit harder than it did then. You can see where color lighting moods and composition with brooding tone and emotion carry the film scene to scene. It’s more less the proto A24 formula of film making. Anyway, sorry to ramble. Again, great review! You gotta new sub.
The way you describe Kinski's beauty... that is a remarkable and well-stated observation!
Harry Dean Stanton was the man!
I'm glad you found Paris, Texas meaningful. I too think it is a brilliant film and it touched me very deeply emotionally. I believe that the budget for Paris, Texas was only 3 million dollars--amazing. The original play/script was written by Sam Shepard. "Buried Child" and "Paris, Texas" are his best in my opinion. Thank you for your wonderful review!
Thank you for turning me on to this movie. I got it on blu-ray from Criterion. One of my favorits films of all time now.
Fully agreed, Maggie.
That third act is so shocking and heartbreaking it's making my eyes tear up just thinking about it.
It elevates the movie from a good indie movie to arguably the most touching American movie of all time.
This and Wings of Desire are my favorite Wim Wenders moovies - we covered Wings of Desire on Indie Film Cafe's Criterion Watch show, and I want to do Paris, Texas for Film Freaks! Glad to see you're talking about it too!
:=8)
A really lovely review of one of my favourite films of all time. Thanks.
🤠 This has always been my favorite movie for as long as I can remember. It was so nice to see this post, and I think you nailed it when it comes to the deeper meanings of the film. Sam Shepard wrote an amazing story. It was acted beautifully. The cinematography was brilliant. And Ry Cooder's score adds so much to the tone of the movie. Thanks for your review! 👍
I watched it a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but your review has made me really want to revisit it. Thank you.
I haven't watched this movie in years but I remember liking it.
My first watch a couple of years ago was a Criterion Collection version. Looks amazing. Recently watched a video on the representation of the colors of the scenes that was quite interesting. 🎉
I've seen this movie 3 times most recently seeing it a few months back on a big screen for the first time at AFS cinemas here in Austin. This is one of my favorite movies, for many of the reasons you've cited. I didn't remember that much about Ann the last time I saw it(probably many years ago) but this time my heart really broke for her over losing Hunter. Also this time I fell in love with Ry Cooder's score. I'll put in a plug for two other Wender's films, Wings of Desire and Until The End of The World. Though I've only seen Until The End of The World once many years ago(it seems like in another life) I'm almost afraid to see it again for fear that I might have built up the experience I had watching in my head over these many years and not like it as much. I know that's silly. What I do remember while watching it was being taken on this exciting journey(it's a rather long movie). It's one of those movies where you think about life differently for the next few days. Anyway I should just watch it again.
Looking forward to your review until the end of the world
Haven't heard this movie's name in quite a while. I'm convinced. Nice review!
This film was given away free as a dvd in a cardboard sleeve on the front of a newspaper here in the UK. I love a freebie and this was one of the best as I'd never seen the film before. The cinematography was amazing.
was lucky to get the chance to see this on big screen for first time in January
One of those movies that has a wonderfully strange atmosphere. I haven't seen it for years. Thanks for the reminder to seek out my Bluray
Being half German... not trying to be a vanker but definitely Vim Venders
I almost never hear native English speakers pronounce his name the German way. Same goes for Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbender and Michael Haneke.
I've lived in Germany for 14 years and plenty of folks here, mainly in media, rarely pronounce non-German names "properly", so we'll just call it even.
@@mordantfilmsMein Gott! I'm guilty of multilingual mispronunciation my friend! It vos chust meine kleine vanker choke more zan ennisink but danke fur das extra info. Alles gute✌️
Totally agree about the final act in this film, it touched my soul haha also glad you mentioned the attractiveness of Jane aswell...i was kind of stunned by her beauty watching her on the screen.
Cannot wait for your 50k subscribers vid!
🙌 Awesome Video
I can’t express how much I love this movie. I can just think of the soundtrack and get a tear haha. Love the colors, everything
If I start talking about it I could go on and on. David Lynch slid his way into this for sure, I thought that too.
Favorite scenes besides the mirror scene
Walt talking to Travis in the diner and Travis first going into the building and seeing Jane sitting down
Great video!!!!! I have to watch it this weekend now
The home movie scene is so beautiful and sad, the ending couldn't go any other way after watching that scene
To me good companion piece to this film is Lucky (2017) starring Harry Dean Stanton as Lucky. The film is about Lucky's spiritual journey on his lasts days confronting love, family, death on a desert town. Note: Stanton died on 2017 aged 91. Oh, and David Lynch plays a character.
I recently watched this for the first time. It's a great movie with a couple of phenomenal acting performances.
Would love to see you do Out of the Blue (1980) directed by Dennis Hopper.
Agree with everything you said. It’s a magical film in every way. Curious about your thoughts on other Wenders films like The American Friend and Wings of Desire. I love them all. Keep up the great thoughtful content!
this film is one of my top 100 for sure. wonderful synopsis. thank you again .. .
I finally watched this movie last yr after somehow missing it when it came out. (I went to a ton of movies in the 80's) I don't have your impeccable vocabulary, so I'll just say this was one fucking, amazing movie that made me cry and think about it for weeks.
Very interesting review, I wonder what you would think of my favourite wim wenders film wings of desire
Nice to see a film for which you know there will be no sequel or Marvel version
Absolutely, the ending to this film has stayed with me since the middle of 2022. Does anyone else think that it was strange that Travis left his son alone in the hotel room with no timetable of anyone returning?
Not quite true, he waits and watches for her to return, then leaves.
@@jimhowaniec yes, at the very end. I was talking about when he left his son alone with the letter to go and see the boy’s mother for the last time. There was no one there to watch him for at least an hour or two, right?
I took ballet classes along with Nastassja Kinski every single day in 1978. She was the most beautiful thing on two feet. Really astonishing beauty. Every now and then Roman Polanski would stop by as he was best friends with my teacher Stefan Wenta.
Very cool!!
Listening to you makes me wish I was intelligent. I loved the movie but my review would go: it's got a great chilled out desert vibe with some emotional family stuff going on.
Paris Texas is my favorite movie I met Harry Dean Stanton in 1993 and he came off as kind and down-to-earth and normal as could be
I guess the movie might feel Lynchian because the main cast hsve all gone on to work with him - Stanton a bunch of times, Stockwell memorably in Blue Velvet, and even Kinski was apparently in Inland Empire (admittedly I don't remember that last one...)
I'm so curious as to why this film has seemingly picked up attention and discussion in the past year (2023?) Why now? For me, it was Roger Deakins podcast, and I put it off to watch over the holidays. He keeps going back to it, over and over as a formative film in his development as a cinematographer. Why 2023 all of a sudden (a film festival? a streaming release?)
Lana del Rey released a song titled Paris Texas in 2023.
I’m traumatized too….interesting good observation about the disconnect with the men and women. That is so weird
You've definitely brought up this movie several times before, but it didn't occur to me that you hadn't reviewed until just now.
Wenders' film Alice in the Cities is very similar in theme in a more European context. Love Wenders, so many great films.
My favorite part of the movie was when they went on the Joe Rogan podcast and talked about how glad they are to not be in the dumpster fire that is California.
Now someone should make a video, doing a meta analysis on why there's a sudden interest in this movie among RUclipsrs
I have heard a couple of people say to me that nothing happens in this film, and this always makes me laugh! Oh the mainstream! lol
Hopefully a 4K edition on the horizon, my Criterion blu ray stop working :(
@deepfocuslens Have you seen Frank Perry's 1968 cult film "The Swimmer"? I think it's right up your alley!
Great movie.
One of the best soundtracks aswell. Thank you Ry Cooder.
Stanton and Kinski both appear in Coppola's "One from the Heart", but don't interact.
Have you seen Wim Wenders' The American Friend?
I love that movie! A bit off kilter, which makes it so much better than average.
only one of the Wim Wenders films I've seen that I disliked. Did I really miss something with the Bruno Ganz character, who seems to suspect nothing when a mob guy trying to make him do a hit hands him his medical results instead of maybe a doctor?
@@helvete_ingres4717 I don't know. That's one of the strangest movies I've ever seen & I love it. I can't answer your question, I can't explain the ending nor can I describe the relationship between Dennis Hopper's character and Bruno Ganz's character. All I know is that I love every minute of it. The subway station and the train fight sequences are absolutely great. The relationship between the 2 main characters is so unorthodox and so hard to pin point what they are, but I think that's why it's so captivating to watch. At least to me. But I can understand your reasons for disliking the movie.
I dont think that at the ending he is leaving hunter forever, he just isnt ready to share a family with her. it is a much more complex and unique ending the one we have rather than a cliche family hug. he is leaving because he needs to digest a lot after seeing hunter reuniting with his mom but after the end i believe he will need and desire to see hunter regularly because he loves him more than his own life as he says but he might not be ready to share time all together as a family.
I'm probably a terrible human being for saying this, but I enjoyed Wild At Heart by Lynch more than Paris, Texas. It's gaudy, surreal, ramped up to eleven, and basically so awful it's orgasmically charming. I mention it because it's also of the "road movie" genre and features the late, great Harry Dean Stanton, among others.
"Wings of Desire" My favorite film of all time.
I know it's a stretch, but - it's interesting to view the boy as Travis himself, on his journey to becoming his own man. All children must essentially become their own parental figures at a certain point, either by leaving home or by falling in love or by dedicating yourself to something outside of the environment that birthed you. Viewed in that light, it becomes a strange sort of quasi-psychological drama.
I watched this at 17, it made me want to detach myself from society and wander across the desert. 30 years on and I’m still in the rat-race
I had a _HUUUUUUGE_ crush on Nastassja Kinski in the '80's!!
I thought it was just me, I also think of blue velvet when I think of this film. I don't know why, they don't have much in common
Pronounced Vim Venders 😉
Like the broken love between two brothers in Lynch's "The Straight Story."
one of my favorites for sure
I just watched Paris, Texas for the 3rd time recently and was really disappointed by the final scene in the peep show. It seemed like way too much exposition by both Kinski and Stanton-both of who I love up until that scene. I think partly it’s the screenplay (I know, Sam Shepard is the shit) but also Stanton’s delivery just seems bad to me. I remember not liking the movie when it came out, then loving it 10 years later, and now loving it right up until that scene. Maybe I’ll change my mind in another 10 years.
thank you for this review
Beware the dangerous beauty of deepfocuslens..
Great soundtrack too by Ry Cooder
I recently got the criterion BLURAY
Ah yes, the illusive retelling of a timeless romance between a 48 year old man & a 17 year old CHILD. ❤❤❤
A CHILD who relentless suffers from a deep rooted desire of fleeing her current circumstances of having brought a child into the world with a man closer to her grandfathers age, so much so that the pdf file has to chain her to the stove.
I swear people forget the facts so dang fast that their heads should literally be snapping off of their bodies. 😂
DeepFocusLens I preferred Wim Wenders The American Friend and Wings Of Desire.
This is my favorite film of all time!
Neat choice of movie to review. Neat review 👍
The way you started that sentence was as if you were about to somehow critique the third act of this movie and I was ready to go ballistic.
Also, this review popping up on my feed was
~~~ much ~~~~ more exciting than any movie trailer that’s been released in the last year.
One of the best ever!!
One of my personal best movie ever made
Request: buffalo 66 and another happy day
Are you on Letterboxd?
It's insane when you realize how many autuor directors Harry dean Stanton worked with!
Check out "For The Plasma" (2014), I think you'd appreciate it for what it is.
My favorite movie. Great review!
I know the random fact that this was Kurt Cobain's favourite movie
Best movie i ever saw. It truly it is a masterpiece.
Love it, one of my favorites.
My Number One movie!
Check out Wenders' Alice in Cities.
There were plenty of moments in this film that I absolutely love, but I'm a bit uncomfortable about the ending [SPOILER ALERTS]
A guy basically kidnaps a boy from a loving, stable household to leave him with a prostitute. I'm not sure I can get behind that as a payoff. Feel free to try and prove me wrong. I'll find the discussion intriguing...
Travis was a horrible decision maker so it adds up
@@thescoobymike I understand that, and it's a very good point, but the film "codes" it as though he made the right decision. I might have to watch it again; because I did enjoy the movie, but that part bugged me.
Another Bobby Lee fan I presume ;D
I'm gonna smoke a Bowl and watch this and the Movie
Directed by who, sorry?
most people wont get it!
Love love love this movie
🙏🙏🙏
Great movie but the uncle and aunt get screwed over. You really don't like the guy.
she waved at me, did you see it? at the beginning...
Calm down there, comrade, she was actually waving at me and you just got in the way.
Vim Venders.
I love the literary descriptions ...
I finally got around to watching this movie recently after it had been on my must-see list for years. I love good art house, I admire the actors and I was ready to embrace ‘Paris’ as one of my all-time favourites.
But I’m afraid this movie didn’t ring true for me either plausibly or emotionally. It was asking me to believe that a guy who had abandoned his wife and child, chained his wife to a stove and was too emotionally messed up even to speak for four years should, just in the space of a few weeks (days?), get it together enough not only to reconcile with his brother and sister-in-law and son and former wife, but then magnanimously turn away again from his wife and son out of the goodness of his heart. Sure, miraculous things can happen in human lives…but this just felt contrived.
It was also asking me to believe that a boy who’d started out with one father and briefly had two would be content to be fatherless, in the care of a mother who had abandoned him.
The argument that the plot shouldn’t be taken literally because the movie’s message was symbolic doesn’t wash for me, because there’s nothing in the screenplay to suggest that the events don’t take place in the literal world. I’m a huge fan of David Lynch; but Lynch lets you know in no uncertain terms that he’s delving into dream states and altered realities. The world of Paris, Texas might be metaphorical, but it’s not surreal.
Then there’s the scene with the mirror. I love movies that push the boundaries of the medium. I was prepared to embrace the mirror scene as one of the most memorable in cinema. But for a start it breaks the golden rule of ‘show, don’t tell’. Travis’s monologue is pure exposition, backstory. Of course it’s also Travis’s way of letting Jane know who he is and how he has changed; but couldn’t the screenwriters have found a subtler way for him to do this?
And where is Jane’s fear? We see her amused, puzzled, disconcerted, moved - but wouldn’t she also be terrified or at least deeply unnerved to realise that the man who had terrorised her for years had tracked her down and was now only metres away? Wouldn’t she be scared of the impending emotional upheaval, the pain of reopening old wounds?
As a coup de grace, there’s the scene where the Latino maid instructs Travis that to gain his son’s admiration he needs to dress like Money. And he does! And it works! Outcast of the wilderness gains his son’s love by living the American Dream. American values win the day.
Paris, Texas could have been one of the all-time greats, especially with that fabulous mirror scene, but I’m afraid for me it loses its way in the desert dust.