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Paris, Texas Of Course
Apr. 6th, 2024 08:28 amOf course, I have seen Paris, Texas a few times before, but not as many as you might imagine. Sam Shepard, Harry Dean Stanton, and the reason for the "of course" that begins this paragraph, Nastassja Kinski. I have seen the film a few times before, but I know the music well. Ry Cooder's soundtrack on cassette tape was one of those soundtracks-to-life albums that played through the open windows of the '82 Oldmobile Cutlass Sierra on warm summer evenings. Cooder's warbling guitar, and Stanton's half of the black dress peep-show scene:
"I knew these people; these two people. They were in love with each other. The girl was very young, sixteen or seventeen I guess. And the man, he was much older, and he was kind of raggedy and wild and she liked that. They were always laughing at stupid things. He loved to make her laugh. And together they made everything into a kind of adventure. Even a trip to the supermarket was full of adventure. And he loved her more than he had ever thought possible. He couldn't stand to be away from her during the day when he was at work. So he quit. He would get another job when the money ran out, and then he would quit again. But after a while she began to worry; about money, I guess. About not having enough." That is my version of the start of the speech. It might not be verbatim. It is as far as I know before getting stuck and having to look up the next line.
What is it? He began to drink and he would stay out late to test her; to see if she would get jealous. You see, jealously would be proof of her love for him. But she didn't get jealous, she would only worry. And then one day she told him that she was pregnant. She was about three months pregnant and he didn't even know. And now he knew that she loved him because she was carrying his baby and he decided that he would dedicate his life to her and his child. He quit drinking and found a steady job. But then something happened: she began to change..." I think that is how it goes.
...
Paris, Texas last night was a sequel viewing to satisfy a Wim Wenders appetite stirred by Perfect Days at the Metro Cinema the evening before. Of course, it isn't a sequel in the sense that it is a continuing story, but in Ross Douthat's sense of being of a shared "distinctive style and mood and setting" with deeply damaged protagonists working out their psychological and existential issues (Douthat, Ross. New York Times. 23 February 2024.) Often Paris, Texas felt like a shot-for-shot copy of Perfect Days - though it make more sense to put that the other way given the order that the films were produced.
One thing we were struck by is how much the unseen, antecedent action deepens the films. The loner male characters are both living with some profound past experience that is only partially revealed or hinted at, so what we actually see in the movies is how they are coping with their lives - more or less successfully. These men are, in different ways, coming to terms with their pasts.
...
I am trying to do this also; trying to come to terms with my past. And I need a new method for doing so. Or perhaps, I need to re-form an old method. I used forgetting as a method. I replaced writing with forgettting. And I have suffered for more than seven years for that reflexive choice. I am now trying to write differently.
"I knew these people; these two people. They were in love with each other. The girl was very young, sixteen or seventeen I guess. And the man, he was much older, and he was kind of raggedy and wild and she liked that. They were always laughing at stupid things. He loved to make her laugh. And together they made everything into a kind of adventure. Even a trip to the supermarket was full of adventure. And he loved her more than he had ever thought possible. He couldn't stand to be away from her during the day when he was at work. So he quit. He would get another job when the money ran out, and then he would quit again. But after a while she began to worry; about money, I guess. About not having enough." That is my version of the start of the speech. It might not be verbatim. It is as far as I know before getting stuck and having to look up the next line.
What is it? He began to drink and he would stay out late to test her; to see if she would get jealous. You see, jealously would be proof of her love for him. But she didn't get jealous, she would only worry. And then one day she told him that she was pregnant. She was about three months pregnant and he didn't even know. And now he knew that she loved him because she was carrying his baby and he decided that he would dedicate his life to her and his child. He quit drinking and found a steady job. But then something happened: she began to change..." I think that is how it goes.
...
Paris, Texas last night was a sequel viewing to satisfy a Wim Wenders appetite stirred by Perfect Days at the Metro Cinema the evening before. Of course, it isn't a sequel in the sense that it is a continuing story, but in Ross Douthat's sense of being of a shared "distinctive style and mood and setting" with deeply damaged protagonists working out their psychological and existential issues (Douthat, Ross. New York Times. 23 February 2024.) Often Paris, Texas felt like a shot-for-shot copy of Perfect Days - though it make more sense to put that the other way given the order that the films were produced.
One thing we were struck by is how much the unseen, antecedent action deepens the films. The loner male characters are both living with some profound past experience that is only partially revealed or hinted at, so what we actually see in the movies is how they are coping with their lives - more or less successfully. These men are, in different ways, coming to terms with their pasts.
...
I am trying to do this also; trying to come to terms with my past. And I need a new method for doing so. Or perhaps, I need to re-form an old method. I used forgetting as a method. I replaced writing with forgettting. And I have suffered for more than seven years for that reflexive choice. I am now trying to write differently.
