I’ve watched this for the first time at the end of the 80’s as a teenager. Even back then, it impressed me and I never forgot that it was special. I didn’t remember much more than that there was a scene in a porn cinema and that it was a slow movie.
On my rewatch, I was most surprised how photographic this movie is. Almost every scene could be taken as a still and posted today on Instagram. It would work. What nowadays is easily achieved with filters, must have been meticulous work back in the 80’s. It has all the looks popular in photography nowadays. Bokeh balls, colour contrasts clearly not natural but impressive, bright melancholic desert shots. The plot plays out in a series of those stills even when it’s moving.
It’s obvious that Wim Wenders is a fan of America. The wide landscapes, cars, the dilapidated streets and small towns. The one thing I didn’t notice back then but now as a man well into his middle age, is the fascination of the middle aged Wim Wenders with young beautiful Nastassja Kinski and the unlikely love story of an old lad with her. Dirty old men are all alike.