On the Road Again with Wim Wenders

Throughout cinema history there have been certain directors who are mostly identified by the types of films they make. John Ford with westerns, Alfred Hitchcock with thrillers, and Martin Scorsese with gangster films, just to name a few. But director Wim Wenders has went through his career making several films that fall into that category of road movies. A genre usually associated with American films, German auteur Wim Wenders has brought an entirely new perspective to the road movie. Most specifically, his unofficial road movie trilogy: Alice in the Cities, Kings of the Road, and The Wrong Move.

 The first film in the trilogy is Alice in the Cities (1974). The film centers around a German journalist named Philip Winter played by Rudiger Vogler driving through America trying to get material for an article about America. When he runs out of money and ideas, he heads back to Germany. At the airport, Philip runs into a German mother and daughter named Lisa and Alice, played by Lisa Kreuzer and Yella Rottlander respectively, who are trying to get back home but can't speak very good English. Philip helps them get a ticket but the plane doesn't leave until the next day.
Philip sticks around with Alice and her mother as they wait for the next day. The next morning Alice's mother is gone and it is up to Philip to get Alice home. This is done in a very disastrous way since the two have no idea where they're going, but they still try hard to get there.
The interesting thing about this film is that it is sort of an anti-Lolita. There is no strange sexual attraction between Philip and the young Alice. The two are merely portrayed as new friends just trying to get back home. There also seems to be no age gap between their friendship, since Philip treats Alice like an equal instead of a kid. The film itself is a very beautiful one and an excellent example of the brilliance of Wender's craft.
This film is available to watch on the Criterion's HuluPlus channel, which could mean that there might be a Criterion release on DVD/blu-ray in the near future. It is definitely a must see for anyone who appreciates the films of Wim Wenders and road movies in general.

The second film in the trilogy is Kings of the Road (1976). This film follows a traveling projection equipment mechanic played by Rudiger Vogler and a depressed man who's marriage has just broken up played by Hanns Zischler. The two men meet and decide to travel together. The whole film follows these two as they travel through Western Germany along the East German border repairing projection equipment in run down movie theaters.
Throughout their travels they encounter several characters that enlighten them. This is a beautifully filmed movie that really captures the landscapes wonderfully that these two go through. The film is also great because there are no homoerotic undertones here. These are just two guys driving. They barely talk or interact, except when they listen to music. They are essentially two guys with nothing, trying to find something. They have lost their way and they are trying to find it again.
This is a theme that Wenders explores often in his films, a desperate need to get back to the place where you are from. This is displayed twice in this film, when Hanns Zischler goes to see his father and confronts him and when both Vogler and Zischler go to the place where Vogler grew up.
This is one of those movies that really speaks to an audience and is able to do it in very few words. There is no American DVD release for this movie, but I was able to view this film on YouTube in 18 parts. A truly amazing film that is masterfully done by Wim Wenders.

The third film in Wenders trilogy is called The Wrong Move (1975). This is one film that I cannot find. There  isn't a proper American release for this film on DVD. You can purchase a VHS copy for $7.00 on amazon.com. It is not on YouTube either. The film stars Rudiger Vogler, Fassbinder regular Hanna Schygulla, and Nastassja Kinski, who is the daughter of legendary actor Klaus Kinski. I did however view the first two minutes of this film on Bing videos and this is the only film of the trilogy that is in color.
With all this though, here's hoping that these three essential films will get a proper DVD/blu-ray release sometime soon. Most preferably in a trilogy box set, released by the Criterion. But since Alice in the Cities is the only one on their Hulu channel, the other two are simply wishful thinking. If these do make it to the Criterion they will join two other Wenders films: Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire.
These are definitely three films that need a proper release and that don't need to be forgotten. To watch a Wim Wenders films is like watching poetry on the screen. Landscapes and people intertwined together to form a beautiful view of the things we take for granted.