Paris, Texas

[rustinglass]

I just saw this.

It's such a good film, I'm amazed... it's one of my favourites.

[kotte]

A very good film.

Its subtle approach to memory loss is what I found masterly done. Not once does he tell anyone (see Audience) when he remembers something. It all comes naturally and we know things are getting clearer in his interaction with the other characters.

Harry Dean Stanton is now one of my favourite actors.

A very good film and equally good music.

[life_boy]

A very good film and equally good music.

I'll second that.  Ry Cooder's slide guitar score is so well done.  It has that hint of familiarity coupled with an aching distance from the world that seems to tell us Travis' situation without saying a word.  It is as slow and laid back as the film's pacing and as subtle as Stanton's quiet performance.  

SPOILERS
The second scene between Travis and Jane talking in the club is one of my favorites.  Because of the large amount of dialogue (which really makes it a little closer to monologue), that part of the film had a high potentiality to be stagnant.  But it was avoided through superb acting and Wenders' restraint from trying to tell too much at one time; he allows the camera to stay on the actor for as long as it needs to, letting the human face hold the viewer's interest and fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.

[modage]

it seemed like a 'film festival film'. i didnt like it.  it was too long.

[w/o horse]

it seemed like a 'film festival film'. i didnt like it.  it was too long.

That's some fancy minimalizing.

It's a slow film for sure, but as far as slow, character driven films go it's ace.  themodernage02's post is a good example of why it's so hard to make films like that and why it's even harder to make a good one, a slow film really has to have a solid foundation.  Otherwise it could come off as insincere or pretentious, but Paris, Texas does a lot of sweating for Travis.  It really stays true to itself and doesn't rush through the parts that other films might rush, and because we go through so much with Trevor, and because the journey is so honest, by the end of the film I am there in the room with him and his ex-wife.  Everything he is saying to her seems terrible and crushing to me because I've been with a character who has only suffered from that day, I have only seen the fallout of that moment, and because of that I know that Travis is not the man he had been with her, I can believe his story, I can believe he fell victim to brashness and insecurity, that he acted on his feelings in a way that was a contradiction to his self, and I can empathize with those terrible events.  It's as emotional of a movie as I can think of.

Personal filmmaking either connects or it doesn't.  I love it, personally, but then I am that flawed Travis.  I do things and then wish I hadn't.  I act against who I am, or who I think I am, or who I want to be.