A career in three acts: The movies that define Wim Wenders

Posted On December 14, 2024December 14, 2024

A pioneer of new German cinema who made one of the greatest films about America, Wim Wenders is by all accounts an auteur. The reigning king of the road movie, he is still somewhat unknown to more mainstream film watchers who don’t consider themselves cinephiles.

This is a great place to be. The favourite filmmaker of your favourite filmmaker may not buy you a house in Malibu, but it certainly has you invited to every mansion on the block. His films are frequently listed as favourites by directors and actors alike, and those movies aren’t simply sitting pretty as markers of high intelligence never to be watched. They have consistently changed the art of cinema.

Winning the Palme d’Or with his fourth feature film and with a voracious back catalogue of road movies, documentaries and beautiful meditations on life, Wenders has had a long and varied career as not only a filmmaker and photographer.

But if you’re hoping to attend one of the said Mlaibue beachfront parties and are hoping to impress your host with your knowledge of Wenders, then these three movies are the only introduction you need. A career in three acts, here is the trilogy that defines Wenders.

The three movies that define Wim Wenders:

Alice in the Cities (1974)

The first movie in what has become known as Wenders’ ‘Road Movie Trilogy’, Alice in Cities was the first film to set Wenders up as a king of the journeyed cinematic trope. It follows a German writer unable to complete his assignment about the United States, who, upon trying to get a flight home, ends up left with a stranger’s daughter in Amsterdam and their subsequent journey to reunite her with her mother.

A German-language picture, it bridges the gap between Wenders’ earlier movies, which were defined by the rigidity of the new German cinema style, and his later work. It also came at a turning point for Wenders, as he was deciding whether to continue his quest to make his passion for film into a career.

Shot on 16mm black-and-white film by Robby Muller, Alice in the Cities is an early nod to the meditative, wistful storytelling and photographic beauty of Wenders’ films. Shot in Muller’s high-contrast style, its stylistic harshness is akin to a documentary, except the humanity of the main characters lifts the film towards poetry. It also begins to capture Wenders’ obsession with decoding America, but it also turns that lens towards Europe, conceiving it as a string of places that have lost their identity. While it can be seen as a simple road movie, it contains all the philosophical musings Wenders’ has come to be known for.

Paris, Texas (1984)

Winning the Palme d’Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Paris, Texas, is undoubtedly Wenders’ magnum opus. There are few shelves worthy of cinematic respect that don’t include the legendary Wenders picture.

The sprawling Bobby Muller landscapes, the fraught relationships, the career-defining performances, the perfect soundtrack and that iconic vibrant colour grading work together to make an absolute masterpiece. A true ode to Wenders’ longtime obsession with Americana, it was inspired by his location scouting trips across America, which he captured with polaroids – much like the protagonist of Alice in Cities.

It opens with an unnamed, mute man walking the rocky wilderness of southern Texas and follows him through a journey where he rekindles his familial relationships, eventually becoming Travis Henderson once again. Played by Harry Dean Stanton in his breakthrough role, Travis is quiet, gruff and seemingly an amnesiac.

Wenders uses colour, symbolism and striking visuals to explore themes of self-realisation and the myth of the American Dream. All of this culminates in what many consider to be one of the greatest scenes in cinema history. A truly unmissable masterpiece by the German auteur, Paris, Texas, isn’t simply career-defining but a defining moment in the whole art form.

Perfect Days (2024)

In the four decades between Paris, Texas and Perfect Days, Wenders by no means took a break from directing. His 1987 film Wings of Desire and its sequel, Faraway, So Close! both picked up prestigious awards at the Cannes Film Festival. He made various other films to varying degrees of success and directed numerous beautiful documentaries. However, his most recent film is the one that matches Paris, Texas in its mainstream appeal and touching subject matter.

Just after the Covid-19 pandemic, Wenders was invited to observe The Tokyo Toilet, the redesign of Tokyo’s public toilets. Presuming the moviemaker would create a short film about the project, the toilet’s philanthropic management company were surprised when the project turned into a feature-length film. It stars Japan’s sweetheart Kōji Yakusho as Hiroyama, a humble toilet cleaner who leads a simple, routine life that’s filled with everyday beauty. It was shot in only 17 days, with Yakusho spending two days training to clean toilets and a week actually cleaning them to prepare for his role.

The minimalist style of both the storytelling and filming was inspired by Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu and worked well to convey the complex emotions that can still dominate a monotonous life. Who knew a film about Japanese toilets could so succinctly speak to the joy in everyday life, the effects of trauma and the pain of familial bonds? But then again, of course, it can be when shot by Wenders.

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