Paris, TexasWhat does it mean to find oneself? Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) is on a personal quest, one that is only hinted at for much of the movie, and even by the conclusion, we are left wondering, guessing what awaits Travis next. Like life, answers are not the destination--the journey is; and Travis comes across as something of a spirit of the Mojave Desert, emerging from the badlands. Our first impressions of him are as if someone had just given up on society--maybe left a job interview in medias res--and began a long, introspective walk. When his brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) is alerted that he has been found--gone for four years--he goes to retrieve his erstwhile sibling, trying to pull him back into the land of the living.
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Travis is like a phantom of the West, silent, inscrutable at first. Our first vision of Travis is curious: an unkempt man in a suit coated in sand, dehydrated and mute, adorned with a red baseball cap; there is a story here we never get fully disclosed, but our minds can wonder. But after his brother pulls him back into the family--resurrects him--he knows, Travis begins to reconnect, if only in his awkward fumblings--like a child wearing "big man" clothes. And Travis panics when Walt tries to take him home by plane, and drives off into deserted locales off the grid when given the opportunity, much to Walt's frustration. More than simply idiosyncrasies, they represent a kind of dissolution with the world that Travis has found no understanding in, and has been fleeing from since. It should come as no surprise that when he is reunited with his son, Hunter (Hunter Carson), he manages to reach him, talk to him as an equal for the most part, and try to become not just a father, but a friend. The reunion is strained at first--Hunter is more adept at coping than I would expect most seven-year old children to be--but like approaching a scared animal in the wild, Travis' tenderness reaches his estranged son. Having discovered that not only has his father returned to his life, but that they have a lead on his similarly missing mother, Jane (Nastassja Kinski), father and son set out to reclaim their family in the only way they can think of, without even consulting Walt and his wife, Ann (Aurore Clément). The story deals primarily in relationships of family, first the reuniting of two brothers who finally reconnect through a trek across the Southwest, and then with Hunter, then Jane. Travis has been running for years, because as he confesses to Ann, that he discovered during his relationship with his very young lover, he learned of a rage he had in him, and accepts that he cannot inflict himself upon her again, and makes a sacrifice. Is Travis better off as a wanderer, a loner drifting across the sands of the desert? Maybe his return is a chance to remember his family one last time--or maybe he is on the road to inner peace, a walk of a thousand miles afoot in Stetson boots and flannel shirts. Is Travis' quest something definite? He is taken home by Walt, but then departs to find Jane after Ann tips him off to her whereabouts in Houston. But is reuniting his family Travis' ultimate goal? I don't think so, but it is the pinnacle of his odyssey to change himself and turn himself around from his tortuous past, his "road to Damascus" making stops at Terlingua. There is a great scene when Travis is walking along an overpass, having just learned of Jane's monthly trips to a bank where she deposits money for Hunter's future, and a man is shouting over the valley in a tirade of frustration and rage, anger mixed with heartache. Travis stops when he approaches the man, watches him for a moment, then passes him, patting him on the back out of sympathy. Travis knows his pain, and shows his wish that he might find a path like his, some kind of direction.
Paris, Texas is a paean to the road, and even an elegy to those tales of the drifters and free men of the West, cowboys and loners, across a sea of desert, co-written by Sam Shepard. The opening shots of the Mojave even resemble an ocean that someone long ago must have pulled out the stopper from the drain, rings of sediment staining the plateaus. For German filmmaker Wim Wenders, the American West is a parallel of Travis, reflecting a vast, almost Zen-like calm, uncluttered by cities and suburbs, honking horns and airplanes that leave the earth behind. Paris, Texas is a very natural movie, with convincingly dusty saloons, railroads spanning the vast landscapes, and other minute but crucial details, like the roadside diner grub, the styrofoam disposable coffee cups at the gas station, the highway signs; it's real, and accentuates the authenticity of the drama. The world and locales are like metaphors for the souls of its inhabitants, or at least the times when they are not, it becomes apparent that this is not the world where this restless spirit belongs. This rings especially true for Jane, not a being of vice, but discovered by Travis to be performing in a peep show, albeit she claims to be nothing more than a good listener. Maybe it's a way of punishing herself, driven by guilt for abandoning Hunter--just as Travis' "long walk" is the penance he inflicts upon himself to atone for his cruelty. She says, "every man has your voice". Talking is an important theme in Paris, Texas. Travis avoids it at first, and is aloof and restrained for a while until he rebuilds his trust. When he and Jane meet, it is between a one-way mirror, where she listens first to his accusatory investigations at first, then when he returns resolute, he turns away from her, speaking solely into the headset; she does the same shortly thereafter. And finally, Travis is at his most eloquent when he leaves a tape recorded message for Hunter, a father's guidance and an important message for the boy. Travis has made a profound sacrifice to restore order to his understanding of what a family is, what it should be...even if he's not meant to be a part of the final frame.
Recommended for: Fans of the road movie and fans of the drama that comes from a family attempting to pull itself back together, and the journey to understand oneself, the most alarming challenge of all.
Paris, Texas is a paean to the road, and even an elegy to those tales of the drifters and free men of the West, cowboys and loners, across a sea of desert, co-written by Sam Shepard. The opening shots of the Mojave even resemble an ocean that someone long ago must have pulled out the stopper from the drain, rings of sediment staining the plateaus. For German filmmaker Wim Wenders, the American West is a parallel of Travis, reflecting a vast, almost Zen-like calm, uncluttered by cities and suburbs, honking horns and airplanes that leave the earth behind. Paris, Texas is a very natural movie, with convincingly dusty saloons, railroads spanning the vast landscapes, and other minute but crucial details, like the roadside diner grub, the styrofoam disposable coffee cups at the gas station, the highway signs; it's real, and accentuates the authenticity of the drama. The world and locales are like metaphors for the souls of its inhabitants, or at least the times when they are not, it becomes apparent that this is not the world where this restless spirit belongs. This rings especially true for Jane, not a being of vice, but discovered by Travis to be performing in a peep show, albeit she claims to be nothing more than a good listener. Maybe it's a way of punishing herself, driven by guilt for abandoning Hunter--just as Travis' "long walk" is the penance he inflicts upon himself to atone for his cruelty. She says, "every man has your voice". Talking is an important theme in Paris, Texas. Travis avoids it at first, and is aloof and restrained for a while until he rebuilds his trust. When he and Jane meet, it is between a one-way mirror, where she listens first to his accusatory investigations at first, then when he returns resolute, he turns away from her, speaking solely into the headset; she does the same shortly thereafter. And finally, Travis is at his most eloquent when he leaves a tape recorded message for Hunter, a father's guidance and an important message for the boy. Travis has made a profound sacrifice to restore order to his understanding of what a family is, what it should be...even if he's not meant to be a part of the final frame.
Recommended for: Fans of the road movie and fans of the drama that comes from a family attempting to pull itself back together, and the journey to understand oneself, the most alarming challenge of all.