21. Observation is better than inspiration
I.
In the seventies, German director Wim Wenders made a name for himself with three films. They are now known as the Road Movie Trilogy: Alice in den Städten (1974), Falsche Bewegung (1975) and Im Lauf der Zeit (1976). Although they were not intended as a trilogy and tell different stories, they all feature wandering characters and Rßdiger Vogler always plays the lead.
Of the three, Alice in den Städten and Im Lauf der Zeit are gems and Falsche Bewegung stands slightly apart. It is the only colour film in the trilogy, but thematically it is the most colourless. A frustratingly nihilistic work.
Together the films form a time capsule from a world without constant stimulation and mobile phones. As a result, the films are fairly slow. Wenders lets his actors improvise freely and lets scenes play out at their own pace. âObservation is better than inspirationâ, says the protagonist of Falsche Bewegung. Wenders lives by that advice in his own films. You follow characters for a few days of their lives and what you see never feels rehearsed.
For this style, Wenders could not have wished for a better cinematographer than the Dutch Robby MĂźller. Speaking of an eye for observation. The shots are extraordinarily beautifully photographed, especially in black and white. MĂźller captures not only the perfect images, but also the right atmosphere. For instance when a man in a bus looks up at night and we see what he sees: clouds drifting past the moon, glimpsed through the roof window.
If you take the time, these are some of the most beautiful road movies you can watch. Little happens, but beauty lurks in the silences. An open gaze yields the most beautiful things, as MĂźller proves with a wide shot of Manhattan. While he slowly pans his camera along the skyscrapers, a bird suddenly enters the frame. MĂźller doesnât hesitate and interrupts his shot to travel a moment with the bird.
II.
Pee-weeâs Big Adventure is a road movie at the opposite end of the film spectrum. Pee-weeâs adventure begins when his bike is stolen and he does everything in his power to get it back. Encounters with colourful characters follow at breakneck speed and after ninety minutes everything comes together neatly. Bow on top.
It is Tim Burtonâs first major film and it shows. Within a few minutes the director has established a magically realistic version of our world. He pulls that off in his best films, such as Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice.
Pee-weeâs Big Adventure had been on my list for years, but the clips Iâd seen put me off. Pee-wee himself is a rather hyper character with an irritating laugh and weird mannerisms. When Pee-wee actor Paul Reubens passed away this week, I finally sat down to watch it. And I should have done it sooner. It is a Saturday-morning cartoon brought to life, with an irritating character you gradually and inevitably come to love.
III.
My girlfriend played Journey on the PlayStation 5. The game is 11 years old but just as beautiful as ever. A perfect game too for people with little gaming experience. You canât die and thanks to clever design you naturally do what the game asks of you.
Watching someone play Journey for the first time is at least as enjoyable as playing it yourself. From the very start you can see a mountain in the distance that you need to reach. Along the way you gain more freedom of movement and a mystery unfolds that you may not immediately understand, but which you feel regardless thanks to the phenomenal soundtrack. Itâs on Spotify. Toward the end of the game you trudge through the snow with a lump in your throat.
As the title suggests, itâs about the journey itself. You try to figure out who you are and why youâre on this adventure. Although Journey has been around for years, there are still players who guide newcomers through the world and lead them past upgrades and secrets. My girlfriend felt a deep bond with a stranger after just half an hour of playing alongside them. At the end they wrote hearts in the snow with their footsteps.
Long story short: play Journey! And then let someone else discover it. Youâll enjoy it all over again through their eyes.
IV.
In the Brabant village of Dinteloord you can grow up to become one of the most important cinematographers in Hollywood without anyone noticing. Hoyte van Hoytema spoke at length on Zomergasten about his childhood in Dinteloord. I grew up there too â a village where I always assumed everyone knew everyone â and the bizarre thing is: no one I asked had heard of Van Hoytema or knew he had grown up there.
Although he has been a well-known name in the film world at least since Let The Right One In (2008), his name only appeared on the Dinteloord Wikipedia page a week ago. Among the names of âcelebritiesâ who had been there much longer, such as goalkeeper Wim de Ron and ballroom dancer Charissa van Dipte.
Itâs ultimately insignificant, of course, because everyone has to come from somewhere, but you do start to feel a certain ownership over someone like that. Are those of us from Dinteloord not allowed to take a little pride in having produced someone of world-class calibre? The village is usually known for its sugar factory (which often makes it smell) and until a few years ago Dinteloord was the end of the motorway. Almost the end of the world.
It made for a fine episode of Zomergasten, in which Van Hoytema spoke about his work on Oppenheimer, among other things. And how challenging it is to shoot a film with a massive 70mm IMAX camera, which makes noise and is difficult to keep in focus. His love for film radiates from every word.
Van Hoytema has already been nominated multiple times for an Oscar and various BAFTA Awards for his work. Not bad for, in his own words, âa bullshitter from Dinteloordâ. That gives hope!
PS.
The second season of The Bear is on Disney+. The first season was one of the best things I have seen on television in recent years, so I am very much looking forward to returning to the chaotic kitchen of chef Carmen Berzatto.
Speaking of cooking. Max Fosh takes on all sorts of bizarre challenges. This time he flies to Iceland to warm up a microwave curry in an active volcano. YouTubers, am I right?
In the Volkskrant, a fine science article prompted by the reader question: where does the universe end? Infinity is a concept that we as humans cannot grasp. What happens beyond the limits of our imagination? âAn exploration of the space beyond the observable horizon, where historical cartographers would have drawn dragons.â
Ten minutes watching how pencils are made in a Japanese factory? With pleasure. Turn the subtitles on if you want to know what youâre looking at. This YouTube channel is fantastic in any case. It takes you through all kinds of Asian production processes, from forging samurai swords to making rubber boots. Enormously relaxing slow TV.
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