First Watch: Paris, Texas
A movie I’ve heard about and wanted to watch for a long time, especially since encountering Wim Wenders perfect Perfect Days. A sprawling road trip of a movie, it’s also about so much more — family and their legacies, fatherhood, love, reconciliation and the brilliance of Dean Stockwell.
Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton), bandy-legged cowboy look-alike is found wandering the West Texas desert, silent and bewildered. Ending up in hospital, the doctor treating him finds his brother’s contact details and calls him.
Billboard business owner Walt Henderson (Dean Stockwell) travels from Los Angeles to Terlingua, Texas (!) to collect his long-lost brother. Travis and his wife Jane (Nastassja Kinski) have separated, but no-one quite knows why. Travis has been missing for four years, presumed dead. Jane left their son Hunter in the care of Walt and his French wife Anne (Aurore Clément), but she still cares from a distance, wiring money across once a month from a bank in Houston into a trust fund for him. Walt and Anne don’t have children and Travis’s reappearance in their lives creates reverberations in their marriage. Anne very much sees Hunter as their child, Walt is very aware that Hunter is his brother’s son, though he’s very much a father to the boy.
At first, Travis won’t eat or speak and has very specific travel requests. Plus he keeps wandering off — along railway tracks — and into the desert. Walt shows admirable consideration and patience in trying to understand and care for his brother, as well as encourage the father-son relationship. Hunter (son of the film’s adaptor, L. M. Kit Carson and a real life Hunter) wants nothing to do with his father at first and avoids him. Anne is kind and sympathetic to Travis, whilst hiding her own pain and fears at losing her ‘son’, and potentially her marriage.
Cultivating relationship through funny walks back home from school (and with help from the family’s maid about what kind of father look he should cultivate), Travis reconnects with his son. Suddenly, they take off on a road trip to find Jane. School, stability, family are thrown up in the air — and Walt and Anne left going out of their minds with worry. Staking out the bank where Jane makes her deposits for Hunter’s future on every 5th of the month, with walkie talkies, tension grows as we wonder if Travis will take off again, abandoning Hunter. Spotting and tailing Jane, they follow her to maybe where she lives…or where she works.
Jane is having quite a sad life, listening to men talk at her in hidden booths, whilst she teeters on sex work. Building up courage, Travis talks about what went wrong with their relationship, and with him. He’d become very controlling, obsessive and aggressive towards his young wife, and she fled him. Jane weeps and there’s reconciliation. Travis has left Hunter in a hotel, to await…his Mum, whilst Travis leaves again, having left a message to explain his actions. The unexpected ending closes with Jane and Hunter hugging and hugging and hugging.
We’re left worrying about Walt and Anne, and the devastation they must be feeling. But also feeling deep compassion for the fragile and vulnerable Jane and Travis, having seen how happy they appeared to be in film footage from family holidays and day trips. What will happen to Jane and Hunter next? Where is Travis going? Where will he end up and will he be ok?Uniquely, it’s about men talking to each other, facing up to themselves and navigating relationships, life, love, emotions, whilst playing on the lone cowboy walks into a town/respectable ranch…
Under Wim Wenders’ humanity affirming direction, the writing of Sam Shephard and huge camera cinematography channeling Edward Hopper of Robby Müller, this Western-esque road movie is impressive. In its colour saturation it feels very much like a Wes Anderson offering. However, the camera shots, editing and direction get us right into the character’s heads and hearts, often without words. But also very beautiful, utilising the landscape, the colours of the desert and the urban textures. It also plays with putting very small characters against vast vistas — whether landscapes, buildings or streets, contrasting Walt’s belonging with Travis’s feelings of fear and lostness. However, it wouldn’t be anything at all without Ry Cooder’s slide guitar soundtrack or the very strong cast — small Hunter Carson impresses alongside the excellence of the adult actors. Enjoy it too for the ‘80’s references — the Return of the Jedi bedding, the McDonalds and the NASA bomber jacket! Prepare to be moved as the camera turns us to look at faces and their hidden emotions — this movie’s all about the details, as well as the BIG country. Churn as Travis and Walt literally wobble about on scaffolding beside a billboard being put in place!
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