XXI:11) Wim Wenders, WINGS of DESIRE/DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN (1987, 128 Min
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November 9, 2010 (XXI:11) Wim Wenders, WINGS OF DESIRE/DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN (1987, 128 min) Directed by Wim Wenders Written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger Produced by Anatole Dauman and Wim Wenders Music by Laurie Anderson, Jürgen Knieper, Laurent Petitgand, Nick Cave Cinematography by Henri Alekan Film Editing by Peter Przygodda Dedicatees: Yasujiro Ozu, François Truffaut, and Andrzei Tarkovsky as Andrzej Bruno Ganz....Damiel Solveig Dommartin....Marion Otto Sander....Cassiel Curt Bois....Homer, the aged poet Peter Falk....Der Filmstar WIM WENDERS (14 August 1945,Düsseldorf, North Rhine- Westphalia, Germany) has directed 45 films, among them Don't Come Knocking 2005, Land of Plenty 2004, “The Soul of a Man” Maudits/The Damned 1947, La Belle et la bête/Beauty and the episode in the PBS series “The Blues” 2003, Buena Vista Social Beast 1946, Vénus aveugle/Blind Venus 1941 and La Vie est à Club 1999, Willie Nelson at the Teatro 1998, The End of nous/The People of France. Violence 1997, Lumière et compagnie/Lumière and Company 1996, Lisbon Story 1994, Bis ans Ende der Welt/Until the End of BRUNO GANZ (22 March 1941, Zürich-Seebach, Switzerland) the World 1991, Wings of Desire/Hummel über Berlin (1987), has acted in 86 films, the most recent of them The Great Farrell Paris, Texas 1984, Hammett 1982, Lightning Over Water/Nick’s 2006 (in production). Some of the others are Der Untergang Film 1980, Der Amerikanische Freund/The American Friend 2004, The Manchurian Candidate 2004, Mia aioniotita kai mia 1977, Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe/The Scarlet Letter 1973, Die mera/Eternity and a Day 1998, Prague 1992, Strapless 1989, Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter/The Goalie's Anxiety at the The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway 1988, Killer aus Penalty Kick 1972, Alabama: 2000 Light Years from Home 1969, Forida 1983, Rece do gory/Hands Up! 1981, Nosferatu: and Schauplätze 1967. Phantom der Nacht 1979, The Boys from Brazil 1978, Der Amerikanische Freund/The American Friend 1977, Die HENRI ALEKAN (10 February 1909, Paris—15 June 2001, Marquise von O 1976, and Der Herr mit der schwarzen Auxerre, Yonne, Bourgogne, France. Lukemia) shot 80 films, Melone/The Man in the Black Derby 1960. amond them Golem, le jardin pétrifié/Golem: The Petrified Garden 1993, Berlin-Yerushalaim/Berlin-Jerusalem 1989, Esther SOLVEIG DOMMARTIN (29 July 1958, Paris) acted in only 10 tv 1986, Une pierre dans la bouche/A Stone in the Mouth 1983, La programs and films. The most recent was an episode of Dame de Monte Carlo 1979, Soleil rouge/Red Sun 1971, “Commandant Nerval” 1996. Her other films were J'ai pas Mayerling 1968, Poppies Are Also Flowers 1966, Topkapi 1964, sommeil 1994, In weiter Ferne, so nah! 1993, Bis ans Ende der Les Parisiennes/Beds and Broads 1962, La Princesse de Clèves Welt/Until the End of the World 1991, S'en fout la mort/No Fear, 1961, Austerlitz 1960, Le Mariage de Figaro 1959, Le Salaire du No Die 1990, Je t'ai dans la peau 1990, The Prisoner of St. péché/The Wages of Sin 1956, Frou-Frou/The Toy Wife 1955, La Petersburg 1989, and Lettre de la Sierra Morena 1983 Reine Margot/A Woman of Evil 1954, Roman Holiday 1953, Juliette ou La clef des songes 1950, Anna Karenina 1948, Les Wenders—WINGS OF DESIRE —2 OTTO SANDER (30 June 1941, Hannover, Lower Saxony, has more to do with joy than anything else”—he found in rock Germany) acted in 104 films and TV programs, the most recent ‘n’ roll, and increasingly immersed in the counterculture of the of which was “Der Hauptmann von Köpenick” 2005. Some of 1960s, Wenders abandoned his studies in medicine and the others were Sass 2001, How the Grinch Stole Christmas philosophy and in 1966 went to Paris to study painting. Instead, 2000, Kondom des Grauens/Killer Condom 1996, Apokalypse he discovered the Cinématèque Française, where he was able to Pink 1994, Zeit der Rache/Time of Vengeance 1990, Wahnfried view as many as five films a day and often did. He returned to 1987, Das Boot 1981, Die Marquise von O 1976, Ludwig 1964. Germany in 1967 and enrolled at the newly founded Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich, where he studied for three CURT BOIS (5 April 1901, Berlin)—(25 December 1991,Berlin) years. Jan Dawson said of the apprentice films he made there that acted in 104 films and tv programs. He was one of the great bit they “combined a descriptive approach with a terror of cutting, or part character actors. During the Hitlertime he worked in of asserting a point of view.” Hollywood, then he returned to Germany. Der Himmel über In his first year at the Munich Film School, Wenders Berlin was his last film. Some of the others were Fortunes of made two 16mm shorts, Schuplätze (Locations) and Same Player Captain Blood 1950, Oh, You Beautiful Doll 1949, The Great Shoots Again. While the former no longer exists (Wenders seems Sinner 1949, Up in Central Park 1948, Arch of Triumph 1948, to regard it as no great loss), some of its material is incorporated Saratoga Trunk 1945, Cover Girl 1944, The Desert Song 1943, in the short, precredit sequence of Same Player Shoots Again, Casablanca (he was the pickpocket) 1942, My Gal Sal 1942, This otherwise consists of the same shot of a man running, That Night in Rio 1941, The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939, repeated five times—once for each ball of the pinball machine Gold Diggers in Paris 1938, Hollywood Hotel 1937, Ein suggested by the title—the repetitions being distinguished from Steinreicher Mann 1932, Der Schlemihl 1931, Der Goldene Pol each other only by certain variations in color. In its structuralist 1918, and Bauernhaus und Grafenschloß 1907. concerns the movie is very much in the spirit of the “loop” films fashionable at the time in Munich and Berlin (wherein the film PETER FALK (16 September 1927, NYC) is best known for his was actually looped into a circle so that it repeated itself long running tv cop series “Columbo,” which still resurfaces now indefinitely). What distinguishes it from this vogue is its and then in new episodes. He has also done a great deal of suggestion, however embryonic, of narrative. In addition, the notable film work (particularly with his pal John Cassavetes), stylistic echoes of American film noir indicate interests that were some of which are The Princess Bride 1987, All the Marbles to become central in Wenders’ more mature work. 1981, The In-Laws 1979, The Brink's Job 1978, The Cheap Two more shorts followed in 1968.Still experimental, Detective 1978, Mikey and Nicky 1976, A Woman Under the they show a growing technical and stylistic competence. Silver Influence 1974, Husbands 1970, Castle Keep 1969, and Luv City, which Wenders describes as an experiment in “missing 1967. narrative,” divides into two halves. The first studies a series of empty, early morning streets; the second shows the same streets Wim Wenders, from World Film Directors, V.II. Ed. John filled with homeward-bound traffic. Made up entirely of extreme Wakeman. H.W. Wilson Co. NY 1988. Entry by Christopher long shots taken from high angles, the film evokes a strong Lambert feeling of emptiness and impermanence—a sense of German director, scenarist, and producer, born in Düsseldorf, contemporary dislocation and transience that Wenders returns to West Germany, the son of again and again in his a doctor. Wenders was at later work. Polizeifilm first ambitious to be a (Police Film) is of a very priest, though he different nature— repudiates the notion that Wenders calls it his he is obsessed by his Laurel and Hardy film. religious upbringing and An ironic comment on says that rock music was the tactics employed by ultimately a more the Munich police in important influence. The dealing with the 1968 Ruhr district of Wenders’ student demonstrations, adolescence was the film is Wenders’ surrounded by US most overt political military bases, and he statement. It provides a stayed tuned in to the continuous commentary American Forces in the form of a voice Network, fascinated not only by the music but by all things whispering advice for policemen on how to handle the various American. As it did for so many of his generation in postwar aspects of a demonstration. Polizeifilm has a subtlety and Germany, rock ‘n’ roll provided him with a specific sense of sophistication that distinguishes it from the more polemical films identity, the first thing in his life “that wasn’t inherited.” He went of the period, while embracing a similar ideology. so far as to tell Jan Dawson that “rock music actually saved my Alabama—2000 Light Years (1969) is notable for being life.” Certainly by the age of eighteen his ecclesiastical ambitions Wenders’ first experiment in 35mm film and for the camerawork had ended, sacrificed to the dual distractions of the juke box and of Robbie Müller… In Alabama, a fatally injured driver climbs the pinball machine (which he played just as fanatically). into his car and goes on driving until he dies, accompanied by Possessed more and more by the creative energy—“it rock music and the sound of the engine. For Wenders, the film is Wenders—WINGS OF DESIRE —3 “about the song All Along the Watchtower...about what happens In 1971, after a brief stint as a movie critic with and what changes depending on whether the song is sung by Bob Filmkritik and the Suddeutschen Zeitung, Wenders made his first Dylan or by Jimi Hendrix.” Three American LPs is also about the 35mm feature.