Paris, Texas DVD > Reviews > A Long Journey

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	It was free, broadened my horizons, keeps you occupied for 2 . 5 hours
Disadvantages:	Rather slow - paced and does go on a bit longer than necessary

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I’m not really a movie buff, and tend to stick to the rather mainstream – or, occasionally, whatever happens to be on TV – in my viewing. In fact, when my flatmate suggested watching one of her ‘free with the Times’ DVDs on a quiet Saturday evening, I’d never even heard of Paris, Texas, despite it winning awards at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Cannes. Then again, I was only two when it was released, in 1984, so I suppose that’s some excuse…

All I did know about the film when we started was that it was a ‘road trip movie’, though this didn’t prove entirely accurate. Well, sure, there were road trips involved, but the film wasn’t really about them. Rather, it could be called a personal journey of self-discovery.

The film begins with Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) wondering lost in the desert, and his brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) coming to pick him up and take him home to LA. Travis has been missing for four years, leaving his wife and young child Hunter in the care of his brother. Exactly what happened to him isn’t clear – for a long while he says nothing, appearing either amnesic or ‘locked in’ – but he opens up somewhat on the long drive home under Walt’s questioning, revealing he wanted to go back to what he saw as his beginning and a plot of land he bought in Paris Texas.

When the two of them get home, Travis is reintroduced to Walt’s wife Anne (Aurore Clément) and his own young boy Hunter (Hunter Carson) – now almost eight. He’s socially awkward or, as my flatmate put it, ‘quite special’, but there are some moving moments as they watch old film footage of him with his young family, and he tries to reconnect with son. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the film, but it concerns Travis’ attempts to find what happened to his wife, and Hunter’s mother, Jane (Nastassja Kinski).

It’s a sad film, the general theme being one of loss and loneliness. Although I said it’s a journey of discovery, it’s not necessarily about reaching a destination, more reflecting on a past gone, perhaps forever, and wandering what might have been – or what went wrong. I won’t spoil the end, but suffice to say it was inconclusive, allowing the viewer to imagine several possibilities.

This lack of closure was only dissatisfying because it’s such a long film; although the 147 minutes wasn’t a complete drag, it was slow-moving and we were conscious of the time. Maybe it’s because I’m used to action-packed Hollywood blockbusters, but not a lot really happens at all, and we were all agreed that about an hour probably could have been cut out of the film without much loss of content (if not mood).

That’s not to say, of course, that the film’s without its merits. After all, we did sit through it all – perhaps in part because of the time we’d already invested. Director Wim Wenders apparently described himself as an artist, as contrasted to the Spielbergs of this world who he considers mere entertainers, and I see why. Certainly things wouldn’t have been the same if the action had speeded up, as there were plenty of arty mood-setting shots of deserts, with nothing happening but Ry Cooder’s bluesy slide guitar soundtrack.

It’s this soundtrack that sticks in the mind more than the acting, though Harry Dean Stanton was convincing in the rather awkward role of the main character. Some of the supporting characters I was less convinced by, Aurore Clément I thought wooden at first, and Nastassja Kinski seemed at a loss how to react to her husband’s appearance – though, I guess, perhaps that isn’t entirely unbelievable, given the context.

It’s not a film I’ll watch again in a hurry, or perhaps even at all, but it did broaden my horizons a bit and for free wasn’t bad value. Do make sure you have a comfy chair though.

Rating: 15 (UK)
Duration: 147 minutes
Information from http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0087884/