(i apologize because this is going to meander)
One of my favorite FILMMAKING ANECDOTES ever (and one from which an invaluable lesson can be gleaned) involves a day
DURING THE FILMING OF JAWS when
SPIELBERG threw
PETER BENCHLEY off the set because he decided that in the film's grand finale, the shark was going to eat the air tank and blow up. i'm going to paraphrase from memory, but BENCHLEY told SPIELBERG that was IDIOTIC and no one in the audience would believe it, to wit SPIELBERG replied that- if he had done his job as a director- the audience would be willing to accept (or more aptly put- "swallow") anything.
and he was right. He (with an excellent group of artists) made a film so MASTERFULLY CONSTRUCTED and BRILLIANTLY MANIPULATIVE of THE AUDIENCE that I for one know that if ever I am attacked by a shark, the very first thing I am going to do is look around for an AIR TANK to shove down that mother's gullet.
Anyhow, why the Hell am i bringing this up? (you surely are now asking)
Because on a whim (hah hah) I started watching
WIM WENDERS' 1984 oddity PARIS TEXAS and he hooked me for exactly two hours and 8 minutes or so of the 2 hour 26 minute film because he is a brilliant filmmaker who was working with great actors and a great crew.
it is a movie that is OBVIOUSLY constructed by someone highly intelligent- there are symbols throughout and a brilliant almost mathematical geometry to the story- apparently KUROSAWA loved this movie and I get that.
It's beautifully shot and framed- there are A LOT of shots that could honestly BE IN A MOVIE TODAY which is wild, because 2/3 of this movie is EXTERIORS of TEXAS and CALIFORNIA ca. 1983/4- but they're framed so tastefully that many shots don't have anything in them to "date" the footage.
BUT...
In the end, for all his OBVIOUS GENIUS and for all the talent and effort of the cast, WIM WENDERS and CO. cannot get me to buy their own personal "shark eating the scuba tank" moment on which HANGS the finale of the whole film.
Spoilers may follow.
This movie starts out something like RAIN MAN where
HARRY DEAN STANTON- with a real JOHN CARRADINE vibe- is found NON VERBAL in a DELIRIUM in Texas after wandering the desert FOR FOUR YEARS (?!?). His brother- who is played by
DEAN STOCKWELL who I LOVE and who is SO GOOD IN THIS, comes to claim him. we discover that STOCKWELL and HIS WIFE have been rasing HARRY DEAN'S SON who is now about 8 in LOS ANGELES because HARRY DEAN vanished four years ago and neither he nor his wife have been seen.
Long story short, HARRY DEAN seems almost autistic in this movie, but he becomes verbal again and plays things in sort of a "JIMMY STEWART with a head injury" fashion, and has a gentle and highly endearing nature that is built up so well by the filmmaker that, although we may furrow our collective brows with concern as an audience when( at the film's one hour mark) HARRY DEAN and HIS EIGHT YEAR OLD SON [WHO HAS BEEN RAISED BY DEAN STOCKWELL AND THIS WIFE AS THEIR OWN IN A NICE STABLE HOUSE IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY] just go POOF! take off FOR TEXAS in search of HARRY DEAN'S WIFE, the kid's mother WITHOUT INFORMING THE KID'S ADOPTIVE/ACTUAL/DECENT/STABLE/CARING/EMPLOYED/HOUSED/VERBAL/FULLY INVESTED PARENTS that that are doing this.
whew.
this is not okay- but WENDERS- the craftsman- has us along for the ride because he OBVIOUSLY KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING, so we keep on WATCHING...
and we get to TEXAS where see that HARRY DEAN'S WIFE, the kid's mother is
NASTASSJA KINSKY ( WHO WAS 35 YEARS YOUNGER THAN HARRY DEAN STANTON!!!!!!!) and she is A PEEP SHOW WORKER in A BACK ALLEY IN HOUSTON.
And the film is getting to the 2 hour mark, and I'm still along for the ride, because this film is compelling and well shot and gorgeous and a time capsule, but also so contemporary- and even though it's slow, things are happening, and the acting is good and i'm invested in the characters.
stop reading here if you don't want the ending "ruined"
and then we discover that DURING THEIR MARRIAGE, HARRY DEAN PULLED SOME REAL IKE TURNER LEVEL s*** ON NASTASSJA- BEATING HER on a DRUNKEN BENDER BEFORE BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE and causing her to flee with their four year old son.
It's like discovering RAIN MAN was actually RUSSELL CROWE'S DAD who chained him to the radiator in LA CONFIDENTIAL.
AND THEN HARRY DEAN JUST GIVES HER THE KID AND WALKS AWAY FROM BOTH OF THEM.
END OF MOVIE.
The kid never goes back to DEAN STOCKWELL and his wife who have RAISED THE UNGRATEFUL LITTLE ****, the last we see of his adoptive mom, she's in a fugue state laying sprawled on his STAR WARS SHEETS. I don't mean to shame SEX WORKERS, but OH MY GOD, what is NASTASSJA gonna do with him WHILE SHE'S WORKIN THE PEEP SHOW DURING THE LUNCH SHIFT????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS NOT OKAY, NONE OF THIS IS OKAY-
the opening theme to LAW AND ORDER should've have started playing any number of times during this movie.
it's like if LENI REIFENSTAHL directed LOVE ACTUALLY- in the end, ain't no amount of aesthetic messaging and talent gonna get over SOME SERIOUS ISSUES WITH THE BASE MATERIAL.
