Close Up

30 June - 19 July 2017: Paris, Texas

paris-texas-wim-wenders-05.jpg

Harmonica
Larry Gottheim & Shelley Berde
1971 | 10’30 min | Colour | Digital

Gottheim’s first sound film. A paean to creative learning and an evocation of the Aeolian Harp, beloved of the Romantic poets.

“Arguably Larry Gottheim’s most exuberant experiment in the single-shot, single-roll format (and his first with a soundtrack), Harmonica trains the camera on a friend improvising a tune in the backseat of a moving car. Held out the window, the harmonica becomes a musical conduit for the wind, while Gottheim's film transforms before our eyes into a playful meditation on wrangling the natural elements into art.” - Max Goldberg

Paris, Texas
Wim Wenders
1984 | 147 min | Colour | 35mm

Wim Wenders’s emotionally overwhelming, Palme d’Or–winning American odyssey is a film of oppositions: wispy, home-recorded memories and rock-solid Southwestern landscapes; long stretches of silence and soul-baring monologues; and American and European sensibilities. It instantly became a career highlight for nearly all involved: Sam Shepard; Ry Cooder; Robby Müller; Harry Dean Stanton, whose performance as a lonely amnesiac seeking out his wife and son became his most iconic screen role; and Natasha Kinski, whose absence – she plays Stanton’s estranged wife – dictates the movie’s rhythm. When she finally appears, it’s with what might be her finest performance to date, a condensed showcase of all her skill and restraint on-screen.


Part of our On the Road season