WIM WENDERS
One of the best known directors of the New German Cinema, Wenders is often characterized as the "existentialist" of the movement. Stylistically, his films blend Hollywood forms and genres with elements of counter-cinema. "All my films," Wenders claims, "have as their underlying current the Americanization of Germany." No other German filmmaker has dealt more extensively or more obsessively with the American presence in the European subconscious.
Wenders's fascination with American culture began during childhood. He grew up at a time when American culture provided a diversion for West Germans eager to forget their own past. Extremely shy and introspective as a teenager, Wenders planned to study for priesthood, but this desire soon gave way to an interest in American music and American film. After studying medicine and philosophy at the University of Freiburg and painting in Paris, Wenders enrolled in Munich's film school, where he made several student films between 1967 and 1970.
His first professional feature, The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1971), attracted considerable critical attention. The film is based on a novel by Peter Handke. Wenders made Alice in the Cities (1974), Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976) - a trilogy of "road movies" that exemplifies his formal and thematic concerns. The best of the three, Kings of the Road is a quiet, almost lyrical film that disdains psychological motivation, suspense and dramatic tension. In that sense, it reflects Wenders's admiration for the films of Yasujiro Ozu. But in its intricate allusions and resonant implications, it evokes Wenders's favorite themes: the difficulties of communication, the Americanization of German life and the fate of German cinema. In The American Friend (1977), a film that won Wenders international attention, the director continues to explore these themes. Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, Ripley's Game, the film depicts the last few weeks in the life of Jonathan, a picture restorer and frame maker living quietly in Hamburg. This story allows Wenders to focus on German/American cultural tensions. In 1978, Wenders came to the United States under contract to direct Hammett for Francis Ford Coppola. After numerous problems with the script and conflicts with Coppola, less than 30 percent of Wenders's original film was retained in the final version, released in 1983. Paris, Texas (1984), based on a script by Sam Shepard about a reunion between a drifter and his family, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1984 and represents in many ways the culmination of themes that run through Wenders's earlier films. Wenders returned to Berlin to make Wings of Desire, a lyrical, largely black-and-white meditation starring Bruno Ganz as an angel who wanders the city, yearning for a physical, human existence. The relative success of the film earned Wenders the Best Director Award at Cannes in 1987. Wenders's Wings of Desire sequel, Faraway, So Close! (1993), proved to be less coherent, and with little of the lyrical elegance of Wings of Desire.
He was awarded honorary doctorates at the Sorbonne University in Paris (1989), the Theological Faculty of the University of Fribourg (1995), the University of Louvain (2005), etc. He is founder and president of the European Film Academy. Currently he is teaching film as a professor at the University Of Fine Arts Of Hamburg. Wenders currently lives in Berlin with his wife, photographer Donata Wenders.
Comments