FARAWAY, SO CLOSE
A film review by Tak
Placed in the public domain 1993 by Mark Takacs
Sony Picture Classics / approx 150 mins (or so) / PG-13
film by: Wim Wenders
Starring: Otto Sanders Peter Falk Horst Buchholz
Natassia Kinski Heinz Ruhmann Bruno Ganz
Solveig Dommartin Rudiger Volger William Dafoe
Lou Reed
Tak Rating: see once as a matinee
TV-Style-One-Line-Summary ------------------------- An angel experiences life on earth and finds that things are better (and worse) than expected.
Tak Summary ----------- The movie starts out with our hero, and another angel, popping about time and space to observe whatever catches their fancy. Unable to stand by and witness a tragedy about to happen, one of the angels is unexpectedly cast into human form.
Thus begins his adventures--he wanders aimlessly, becomes homeless, joins a band of similarly "fallen" angels, works for a gangster, and then tries to make a difference. Throughout his adventures, the Devil (William Dafoe) ensures he has a really hard time and gets some of the more dubious human experiences.
Tak Thoughts ------------ I saw this movie by accident. Seriously. I was at a screening of BAD BEHAVIOR, a comedy, which started late. By the end of the movie a small crowd was waiting to get into the preview theatre ... so I just stayed seated. I had *no* idea what I was getting into.
So picture my surprise when the movie opens in grainy black and white with a French narration and subtitles. Do you remember that beer commercial? It goes something like this:
[bored guys and dates watching a clown speaking anguished French]
"Why do foreign film have to be so ... foreign?"
[another night--movie w/explosions & gunfire ... now dates bored]
"Why ask why?"
Well, the first fifteen to twenty minutes mins of this film seemed like the anguished-clown foreign film clip. Our hero and his companion move around space and time (within a few generations), philosophically musing to us (in French, with subtitles) about life, death, and what it might be like to be a human. Ei Yi Eee.
Okay, so I think I'm identifying more with the guys in that commercial ... I like guns, bullets, adventure and whatnot. Hell, I saw CLIFFHANGER twice and *loved* it.
But just before my patience wore uncomfortably time, our hero is thrust into a human body, and then all sorts of fun stuff happens. Eventually we get to see some limited gun-fu, mobsters, a hare-brained con involving "Columbo," and some extensive acrobatics (I always suspected those acrobatic people were a little, well, different).
Okay, on to the subtitles. *Weird*, but neat. The characters are speaking French at first. As the cast expands, they include German, then English, dropping the subtitles only when English is spoken.
As the film rolls on, they start mixing the languages ... French, German, English, all kinds of things--*in the same sentence*! And I didn't even notice at first! It posed absolutely no problem to my understanding of the dialogue. Now, admittedly I took a two years of high school German (mainly so I could understand what the extras were saying in the war movies I was into at the time--RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is a good case), but I felt as if I could understand anyone, no matter what language they happened to be speaking. 'Twas a neat feeling. If you see this movie, watch for this effect.
The movie had lots of little subplots, almost too many. Most everything is wrapped up at the end. But I was left with a vague sense that something, somewhere, was skimmed over, rushed past us, or left unfinished. But I'll be damned if I can remember what. This seems to be a characteristic of Wim Wenders stuff. I had a similar feeling with UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD. Apparently, he loves to explore lots of things in long movies.
Focus. I guess that's the problem. We're all over the place here. We get a sermon on guns, pornography, gambling, homelessness, a sentimental attachment to an elderly Nazi chauffeur, acrobatic angels on a stealthy ninja mission, death, precious life, and all SORTS of things. It leave you with a lot to think about... lots of breadth, no depth. The most engaging films I've seen have focused on one theme, rather than this huge assortment.
If I'm gonna see a serious film (as opposed to a whup-ass film) I much prefer a film that acts as a magnifying glass, focusing the sun into a painfully burning spot, rather than a nice diffuse tan.
Technical Comments ------------------ They did the currently trendy switching from black-n-white for the angels (apparently angels have dog eyes) and color for humans. It did work well though.
Soundtrack is pretty cool too. Lou Reed has a cameo role as himself. I've heard friends say they like the soundtrack, though I haven't heard it yet. I tend to let the soundtrack fade into the background ('cept for UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD, another Wim Wenders film, which had an awesome soundtrack that jumped out at you. Oh, and there was DAZED AND CONFUSED, too).
Tak Rating system: ------------------ Well the Cannes Film festival people liked it. It got a "Grand Jury Prize: Cannes 1993". As for me, well, it was good, but in the way something very beautiful, expensive and fragile in your mother's house is. Or a big smorgasbord that you want to savor, but you're only allowed a pinch from each area. So I enjoyed watching it, but I'm not gonna rave about it.
avoid at all costs
watch it on cable
wait for videotape
X see once as a matinee
see several times (w/friends) as matinee
see once at full price
see it several times - full and/or matinee
see many times at full price
.
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