German filmmaker Wim Wenders first became known to American audiences with “The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.” Peter McMorris remembers it well.
“It was a great title, not the usual movie title, more like a book. I understood it right away and it drew me to that film,” McMorris says. “The story was different. I didn’t know where it was going.”
McMorris and James Hanley, who helped co-found Cinestudio at Trinity College in 1970 and still run it, became fans of Wenders for that quality of unpredictability.
“It’s about the obvious not being what it is. Your first impression is not quite correct. Something else is going on,” Hanley says. “People are more complicated than you think. It’s a reminder that you’re not always right.”
Many films by the 1970s film icon were recently restored. McMorris and Hanley jumped at the chance to revisit some of his greatest movies. August is Wim Wenders month at the Trinity College art-film house, with seven Wenders films being screened, each three times.
“Goalie” is McMorris’ favorite, largely due to that unforgettable first impression. Hanley loves it, too.
“It’s something unexpected, a film that doesn’t come to a conclusion, that didn’t reassure the audience,” he says.
Hanley also has a special fondness for “Wings of Desire.” Wenders’ 1987 classic tells the story of angels in Berlin who oversee human activity and comfort the distressed. One angel falls in love with a circus performer. It stars Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk, who plays himself.
“People talk about Peter Falk playing Peter Falk and about the religious significance, but to me those things are peripheral. To me, it’s an exploration of an extraordinary city,” Hanley says. “It’s a story of wartime and what happened to the city. It’s an observation of the past intersecting with the future. It constantly reminds you of things that remain there, iconic images of the city. It has an ‘identity of community.’ Not many films do that.”
Wenders was one of the leaders of the New German Cinema of the ’70s, alongside Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta. He stands out among his peers for his distinctive love for American pop culture, especially music. Many of his films include American music, American actors and English-language dialogue.
Wenders took his love for America on the road in 1984 in “Paris, Texas,” which was shot in a series of small-town Texas locations and featured a soundtrack by Ry Cooder. The drama stars Harry Dean Stanton as a man whose life went off the rails when his wife (Nastassja Kinski) left him.
Hanley and McMorris see a lot in common between “Paris, Texas” and “Wings of Desire.”
“You learn the city through the characters. You’re just observing people making contact with where they live. It gives you a feel for the place,” McMorris says.
“It was something totally unexpected about America from someone who is not from here,” adds Hanley. “There’s a kind of simplicity to the music and the observation of the characters.”
“Wrong Move” is one of the films in Wenders’ “Road Trilogy.” The 1975 film stars Wenders regular Rüdiger Vogler, German legend Hanna Schygulla and 14-year-old Kinski in her film debut. It tells a free-roaming story about a man on a journey and the people he meets. McMorris calls the “Road” trilogy Wenders’ “American movies.”
“It introduced you to Germany but had the same structure as American road movies. It gave you a sense of the country, learning about postwar Germany,” he says. “I learned more about Germany watching these road movies than I ever knew.”
Other films to be shown in the Cinestudio series are “The American Friend,” a 1977 thriller based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith about a man lured into a life of crime, starring Ganz and Dennis Hopper; “Buena Vista Social Club,” a1999 documentary about aging Cuban musicians; and “Until the End of the World,” a 1991 William Hurt road movie about people who meet randomly and begin traveling together.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. each day except screenings of the four hour-plus “Until the End of the World,” which will start at 5 p.m.; and the Aug. 11 screening of “Paris, Texas,” which will be shown at 4:30 p.m. to make room that day at 7:30 p.m. for the monthly LGBT-themed film.
Here’s the schedule: “Wings of Desire,” Aug. 5, 13, 19; “Until the End of the World,” Aug. 6, 14, 21; “Buena Vista Social Club,” Aug. 7, 12, 20; “The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick,” Aug. 8, 16, 24; “Wrong Move,” Aug. 9, 17, 25; “The American Friend,” Aug. 10, 18, 22; and “Paris, Texas,” Aug. 11, 15, 23. cinestudio.org.
