Paris, Texas (1984)

Directed by Wim Wenders. Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément, Hunter Carson, Natassja Kinski, Bernhard Wicki. [R]

Consummate character actor Stanton steps into the lead role for the first time in his career (and only once again after this), playing a haunted, quietly angry man found wandering through the Texas desert in a dissociative fugue state; he starts to recover after being reunited with his brother (Stockwell) and then undertakes a difficult odyssey to reconnect with a young son (Carson) who barely remembers him and locate his long-absent wife (Kinski). A slow but steady and enormously engrossing journey, evocatively photographed by Robby Müller and carried through by Ry Cooder’s twanging slide guitar, with richly understated performances and hard-fought communications between its lost and isolated characters that are deeply moving. The striking scenic images suggest a Western tragedy, and Stanton’s absently crazed mindset almost presents him as a forlorn prophet of alienation, but Wenders also shows great fascination, even affection, for his subjects and their setting, and the story is dusted with the sort of dry, laconic humor that’s as natural in this environment as tumbleweeds and rust. Not for everyone, but rewarding for those willing to invest. Written by Sam Shepard and L. M. Kit Carson. Winner of three prizes at Cannes, including the Palme d’Or.

92/100