Some Early Wenders (Patreon)

For obvious reasons, Wim Wenders has been back on my cinephile radar, and (for equally obvious reasons) there is quite a bit in his expansive filmography that I've never seen. A few of these early(ish) works were Great White Whales back in my VHS trading days, since at that time they were extremely hard to find. Now of course, almost everything can be found. Even you. BWAHHHM.

3 American LPs (1969)

This 16mm short provides the Wenders template to some extent, since it is precisely about driving and rock music. What is odd about it is the rambling narration by Peter Handke (back before his cancellation), trying to explain how American pop music is cinematic in an of itself, that it somehow implies journeys on the open road. It's a bit like watching a magic trick while someone explains not only how it's done, but how the illusion should make  you feel.

Aside from that, it seems clear that this had an impact on Jim Jarmusch. But more surprisingly, 3 American LPs (other than the Handke narration) looks and feels very much like a James Benning film. Nondescript industrial landscapes, gas stations, and an empty drive-in movie theater all strongly suggest some middle American location, until we see the sign reading "AUTO-KINO," and we know we're in Germany. The point is well taken: with the right combination of sound and image, cinema can appear to take us anywhere. Never thought of Wenders, Benning, and Jarmusch forming a conceptual triad, but that's what discoveries are for.

Room 666 (1972)

Minimalist, but in a rather negligible way, Room 666 was a TV-commission quickie wherein Wenders set up a camera and tape recorder in a hotel room during the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. He asked various directors to respond to a set of questions that will seem very familiar, since we're still struggling with them over 50 years later.  Does cinema have a future? Is television replacing cinema? Will video and other new technologies render cinema obsolete? And so on. Wenders was wise to place Godard at the beginning because he delivers the longest, most rambling answer, and the other directors seem sharper and more concise in comparison.

The nature of the project means that the group of people represented is a bit random. Monte Hellman and Robert Kramer don't have a lot to say. Susan Seidelman seems happy just to be included. Filipino director Mike De Leon effectively thwarts the question, noting that for cinema in the Philippines to have a future, the Philippines itself would need a future, and he's not sure it does. Fassbinder doesn't offer much, so I guess he hadn't had his afternoon bump. The most cogent responses come from Werner Herzog, who thinks that as long as human stories exist, the medium will adjust accordingly; Steven Spielberg, who excoriates studio heads and champions "small, personal films" (he was in Cannes showing E.T.); and Michelangelo Antonioni, who asserts that however the medium evolves ("magnetic tape, lasers, movies on the computer"), artists can discover new languages and rise to the challenge.

Room 666 is a watchable curio, but it's for filmheads only.