The difference between a good and great film is its sense of place. Many current films, I’ve noticed anecdotally, appear to have relegated production design and location choice to either afterthoughts or last-minute scrambles. There’s a prioritization happening somewhere along the line that sacrifices the slow work of design for the fast work of sweeping backdrop or a broadly-sketched simulacra. Characters sit in ‘homes’ that look like they are in the process of being cleared out after a Progressive commercial shoot, get married in what is supposed to be Upstate New York but is clearly a gulch on the Burbank side of Griffith Park. On the other end of the scale there are kisses in front of the Sydney Opera House, action sequences in front of the Sydney Opera House, walk and talks in front of the Sydney Opera House. Is there a new Australian tax break? Why is everyone shooting in front of the Sydney Opera House? 1
All in all, the effect is cheap and evasive. There is an undeniable uncanny valley that opens when a film tries to dress Downtown LA as Midtown NYC and this dissonance is what separates film-as-craft from film-as-capital. Film as capital has to cut around all those ficus trees on 56th & Lexington; film as craft is allowed to go wide.
Wim Wenders2 is a filmmaker who has always been allowed to go wide. A prolific photographer as well as director, Wenders’ approach to filmmaking is rooted in a dialogue with place. As a photographer Wenders has produced a lot of work about the States, specifically the imaginary space of the American road. It’s a relationship only a European could have with America, a sense of alienation and fascination and fantasy pervade his photographs of Texan highways and Arizona hotel lobbies, a reverence that is distinctly one of a stranger. This bleeds into his narratives. Wenders uses relationship to place as a story dynamic. In many of his films this is arguably the primary story engine. A character in a Wenders film is never an individual but a point on intersecting lines, alienated from home but also brought back by synchronicities between home and the strange landscape in which they find themselves. Where they are has something to say about who they are and what happens next.
Even when Wenders makes movies about his native Germany it is from the perspective of people who are passing through — the liminally dead in Wings of Desire, the road-trippers of Alice in the Cities. Paris, Texas is not about Paris, Texas. We only ever see Paris in a photograph. What we do see is a mute man with no history standing against the massive, empty skies of California and rural Texas. Later, a faceless reunion with his wife somewhere in the bowels of a glittering and formidable Houston cityscape.
Mistakes happen and opportunities are missed when we think we can skip to the fun part because the basics will always be there. This week (today) we have a new moon in the sign of Virgo. In the lunar cycle, new moons are the beginning steps that get paid off and realized at the time of the full moon two weeks later. The next full moon, however, is a lunar eclipse in Pisces. Eclipses are periods of time that we must surrender to the hand of fate; we do not have human control over eclipses, our best bet is to keep our heads on straight and wait. The week of the New Moon is the time to start doing that.
I usually don’t say this about astrology — I believe that the astrology finds you whether you’re looking out for it or not — but the astrology this week feels like it is asking to be used or lost. Virgo is a sign that understands the importance of orientation, details, and place, and if we ignore the details this week we risk a creative failure or breakdown later on. To maintain personal and structural integrity, treat every step of the process as sacred.
NOTES FOR THE WEEK
Monday, September 2
Sowing seeds of productive irritation and discontent. Sometimes it is good to be dissatisfied in order to achieve something better, more true, more meaningful. Forgiveness is not always honorable.
Tuesday, September 3
Lowering boundaries in order to facilitate a return to a misremembered state. Delusions of beauty and the illusion of nostalgia. Health and immunity are wavering, too. Saying goodbye slowly.
Wednesday, September 4
Faithlessness and the consequence of losing. No trust amongst liars.
Thursday, September 5
Positive encouragement.
Friday, September 6
Being broken up with out of nowhere, but kindly. A means-tested ego.
Saturday, September 7
Silent arrogance with little basis in reality.
Sunday, September 8
A world that meets itself on the terms of its own demise. The realities of what is possible and what isn’t determined by how far you are willing to extend yourself.
So it’s actually just Fall Guy and Anyone But You that shot there recently but still… get that ugly building off my damn screen!!
Wim Wenders: natal Virgo Mercury and Gemini Mars, two of our current transits.