Rating: 3/5
Just by looking at something, you can completely change it — or destroy it
Big fan of The American Friend, so I was curious to see Wender’s approach to an America-oriented Neo-Noir
Mike Max (Bill Pullman) is a movie producer specializing in realistic and in-your-face violence. His fixation on work jeopardizes his relationship with his wife Paige (Andie MacDowell), but all that changes when two men abduct him to murder him. The next day, the two men are dead, and Mike is missing and is suspect number one
Ray (Gabriel Byrne) is a former NASA employee holed up in the Griffith Observatory, working on a top-secret surveillance project that promises to be “the end of violence.” But when footage of a murder goes missing, Ray begins to suspect his employers had a role in the murder, so he reaches out to the only person he can — movie producer Mike Max
On paper, the movie has some compelling ideas and could come out looking like Enemy of the State or The Conversation or, hell, They Live. What we get is a pastiche of Wim Wenders-esque road film, ponderous speeches on the nature of violence, and vestigial parts that feel underdeveloped or cut-worthy fodder in one more rewrite
Part of the disorientation is looking at pre-9/11 Surveillance State America through the lens of a German filmmaker. The meta text piles and compiles, and the resulting image feels outside of reality — maybe that’s why it gets Lynch comparisons?
I do think the movie manages to communicate a meaningful argument about the camera as a distancing device from violence, diluting reality into a story. Also, I believe that the third act intentionally succumbs to the Noir-like violence and covert operations — similar to Adaptation, the plot freezes without engaging the tropes it is critiquing
A facet of the story I wanted to see developed more was the invisibility of immigrants and how Mike could hide so well because he immersed himself with people that America does not care about. This idea is also touched on with the cleaning lady hired at Ray’s job that I won’t go into here
Cut another way, Mike frequently talks about his fear of a foreign attack, and for him, the end of that fear and the end of the violence that motivated him came through spending time with the Hispanic family
As Wenders is first a photographer, the cinematography is excellent and is the prime mechanism through which the film explores its themes
I wouldn’t call this a successful film, but I do think critics misunderstood what the movie did — and that is the fault of the film itself. Still, the film hooked me as I had no confidence in where the film was heading, but crafted well enough that I stuck around to find out
Changing yourself — that takes guts
Stray Thoughts
- Ry Cooder always answers Wim Wender’s calls, doesn’t he?
- Pullman’s outdoor desk/baby bouncer is sleek as hell
- How is his card intact for the police to find it if the assassin tore it up?
- Four weeks later and he looks like Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas
- Dude, don’t fuck the maid!
- Netscape Navigator 3.0
- Poster for a movie called Creative Killing — très créative