Comments on: Wings of Desire

By: A pedant

A pedant — Wed, 12 May 2004 21:21:21 +0000

Mr Ripley: “Warum hasst du angst-angst?” actually means “Why do you hate phobophobia?”…:) And, by the way, the word “jetzt” means “now”.

By: Chris Bertram

Chris Bertram — Wed, 12 May 2004 09:17:12 +0000

Thanks Aisling. An old favourite of mine, in fact (including the music). But I haven’t gone back to it since I started (re)learning German.

By: aisling

aisling — Tue, 11 May 2004 17:55:25 +0000

Woops – That’s Weill (with two l’s)

By: aisling

aisling — Tue, 11 May 2004 17:53:29 +0000

Hey Chris, Something else you might try to get your german up to speed in the most painless way possible: Brecht/Weil’s Threepenny Opera (with Lotta Lenya singing). It’s funny and the german is really clear. The music isn’t really my cup of tea but it sort of grows on you. Viel Spass, du !

By: James Russell

James Russell — Tue, 11 May 2004 10:20:05 +0000

I’ve made a point of not seeing FSC cos I enjoyed the original film so much that I fear watching the sequel would damage my feelings towards the original. I have the soundtrack album, though. No love for Paris Texas here either, sorry. Tried it twice and never seen it through to the end yet. I’ll never understand why Wenders didn’t shoot it in Scope, either.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 11 May 2004 07:16:23 +0000

Say what you must about FSC, but it is the only place to catch Lou Reed’s performance of “Why Can’t I Be Good”—surely one of his best post-Velvets compositions. And love to Paris, Texas. Stellar.

By: Mr Ripley

Mr Ripley — Tue, 11 May 2004 07:03:19 +0000

Congratulations, Chris. I saw Wings when it was released, and then a few years later in my rust-belt hometown, where many audience members who I feared would think it boring were fascinated by it. Und jetzt, und jetzt, und jetzt . . . I don't recall having thought of FSC as a bad movie, just ordinary and forgettable by comparision with the brilliance of WoD. Maybe Ganz's character and his struggle are just more interesting than the other fellow's? Maybe sequels with Lou Reed in them are cursed to be duller than their predecessors(vide Blue in the Face)? Pseudonym like I use, you might expect me to admire American Friend. And Alice in the Cities is a charmer, for such lines as the little girl's Warum hasst du angst-angst (Why are you a phobophobe)?

By: Willie Mink

Willie Mink — Tue, 11 May 2004 03:27:29 +0000

What, no applause for Paris, Texas?! Actually, my favorite Wenders film is Notebook on Cities and Clothes, which made me realize, among other things, that fashion can reach the level of art, and that clothes really can make the man (and the woman). I bought it and have watched it from time to time, about 5 times now.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 10 May 2004 23:11:45 +0000

I’m glad that ‘the goddess’ enjoyed ‘Far Away, So Close’, but it seemed to me that it had little to recommend it. Where ‘Wings of Desire’ showed, ‘FSC’ merely said. Where the first was graceful and transcendent, the second was clunky and literal-minded. So, I think one need not be full of rubbish to descibe FSC as rubbish. WOD, of course, is, indeed, splendid.

By: The Goddess

The Goddess — Mon, 10 May 2004 20:19:03 +0000

My first Wenders film was “Faraway, So Close”. Whoever said it was rubbish is full of rubbish himself. The scene in which Bruno Ganz swings on the bungee cords, the expression on his face of pure joy and freedom, brought tears to my eyes. As soon as I finished the rented film I bought the DVD. I also own “Wings” too.

By: Another Damned Medievalist

Another Damned Medievalist — Mon, 10 May 2004 19:41:16 +0000

I didn’t think FSC was so awful, but then I saw it as the other side of WOD. It didn’t work nearly as well, but it worked in some ways. As for Until the End of the World, I thought it was slow, but I really liked it. Maybe it appealed to the cyberpunk globalist in me. Plus, it had a fantastic soundtrack.

By: dedee

dedee — Mon, 10 May 2004 18:43:09 +0000

i rented it because it was on an AP list of the best 10 films of the last decade [80s?]. it’s been #1 on my list ever since: it’s like dreaming while awake. a flying trapeze artist is perfect thanks for the reminder & memories, as a brief respite from the nightmare of current “reality”

By: No Preference

No Preference — Mon, 10 May 2004 17:44:47 +0000

Chris, I thought that Joseph Vilsmaier’s The Harmonists, about a mixed Jewish / non-Jewish vocal group in Germany during the runup to World War II was witty and beautifully filmed. Did anyone else see it?

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Mon, 10 May 2004 17:10:41 +0000

I think the (primary) problem with “Faraway, So Close” was that Wenders either misunderstood or thought he’d gotten beyond what made transcendence palpable in the first film: the fact that his angels (who had watched over Berlin forever, who knew every citizen and every nook and cranny and were simply there, part of the atmosphere and infrastructure) were right next door to the quotidian; hence when one of them “falls” into the everyday it makes continuity itself something wonderful, absent any shattering message or insight or revelation. Whereas the fallen angel is “FSC” has to do something, make sense of the new post-Berlin Wall world, cobble something together, come to some decisions, play a role. A typical human story, in other words, rather than a view of the meaning of such. (Incidentally, this is probable why “City of Angels” never could have worked, even if they hadn’t completely junked the fundamental perspective of “WoD”: I doubt Los Angeles ever could be visually presented as the sort of place where people—mortals or angels—are part of a larger, deeper continuity; the very ambience and environment of the place screams transience and action, not reflection.)

By: Martin O'Neill

Martin O'Neill — Mon, 10 May 2004 16:38:22 +0000

Unfortunately, ‘Faraway, So Close’ is rubbish.