PARIS, TEXAS is an astonishing exploration of the internal and external landscapes of the human soul, as well as a visual spectacle of the dark beauty of human isolation--each frame is as perfect and visually constructed as a post card. Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) stumbles back into the Texas lives of his wife, son, brother, and sister-in-law, after having vanished into the Mexican desert for years. Having surgically cut the ties to his family, Travis has now forgotten how to speak, what his life is about, and the meaning of his own human connection. Travis's brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) is now father to Travis's son, Hunter. Jane, (Nastassia Kinski), Hunter's mother and Travis's wife has fallen on hard times--she strips inside a glass, peep-show booth for even harder, boozy men who ogle her from the dark.
As Travis struggles to follow the tortuous path back into his discarded past, his family, society, and language itself, he tries to grasp the meaning at the core of human connection. For Travis, one of the urgent questions he wants answered: how is it that one "is" or "becomes" a father? Is one born with the capacity to be a father? Must a man learn? If so, how does he learn? How does one assume this most awesome of all cultural roles: fatherhood?
Stanton is brilliant as Travis struggling with his hard-worn humanity, his frayed connections to others. The dialogue is as eloquent as it is lean and carved to the bone. The cinematography so supports the film's magnificent interiority of isolation, that it is impossible to blink during this film. The hues of desert and sky and of Jane's tawdry workplace stand in as sharp a contrast as the multiple possibilities each human being faces in the choices a full and inscrutable life offers.
To this extraordinary combination are also the raw, unyielding, and courageous visions of Wenders' Assistant Director, Allison Anders, now herself the wild & maverick director of "Mi Vida Loca," "Gas Food Lodging," and "Grace of My Heart." Does life or art ever get better than this? I don't think so. Please, get this film into DVD, please. It's a TEN on a five-star scale.
It's not a flashy movie. But if you have the patience to sit and watch it, you'll be left with a feeling of being overwhelmed by the quiet drama of life that the movie holds. I hope it comes out on DVD soon. And that music...wow.
Even after 10 years, I can remember the movie vividly. It's brilliant. The scene with the two-way mirror is perhaps the most riveting and emotionally draining scenes ever made. The unfolding story in that scene is made utterly believable and totally absorbing.
The movie avoids cliches and easy answers. The father is obviously not your average well-balanced guy (he did, after all, put cow-bells on Nastassia's leg so he could catch her sneaking out at night!). His brother's family are rightly anguished at the thought of losing the child they raised for several years. And Nastassia - is she really fit to raise that wonderful little boy?!
And the crazy guy on the freeway overpass - what a memorable scene! Altogether, the music, cinematography, story and acting come together to create a phenomenal movie ... please get it out on DVD soon!
It's rather unusual to see America through the eyes of a European film crew. The film has a slow, observant quality that contrasts sharply with prevailing American dramas where constant close-ups try to make you feel more involved with the characters. In 'Paris, Texas', Wenders lets the quality of the acting speak for itself without recourse to sentimentality.
The last part of the film was unscripted and tends to drag a bit, but Stanton's understated performance keeps you glued to the screen as the story unfolds. Ry Cooder's score adds a traditional American soundtrack that somehow manages to be something much more ethereal. A poigniant score that colours the film's theme of hope and longing.
This DVD is available in Australia (Region 4 Pal)...so it won't work on NTSC/Region 1 without some modified equipment.
At times this movie is utterely compelling, particularly the beginning- which is totally surreal and REALLY weird in a very cool way. And, of course, the dicussion near the end.
It has a slow, restrained development and it quite edgy as the boy and his father try to knit together and establish a cohesive, appropriate relationship. Likewise the relationship between the main character and his brother has a few disjointed connections but also an unlying kinship that neither time, apartness nor 'irrational' behavior has been able to break.
The road trip of the boy with his father is an interesting passage across the united states from Los Anglese to Texas, with some fine footage and big sky. Perhaps a metaphor of escaping a busy, superficially complex, constrained life to a more simple, fundemental one of much greater possibility from which a new life can be built?
The movie is 'made' however in the rooms at the end. WHile it does take a while for the story to get to these two places, it is worth the journey. It requires patience or a willingness to be dissolved into the story.
It's a shame that the DVD shouldn't be avilable in the US, but available here...since the movie is far more likely to mean more to an American...A strange irony.
Altogether, pretty good! Shame those who would appreciate it most are least likely to see it! Enjoy the journey!
