After dabbling in what is known as the Criterion Collection I suddenly realised how little I knew about movies, I did after all self proclaim myself as a movie buff and after seeing a few closet picks from well known directors/actors it struck me… I have seen absolutely zero of said movies that are mentioned by the actors and directors.

So after extensive googling and searching I came across the BFI Channel on Amazon Prime Video, now immediately I signed up and have since seen an array of movies, most recently I have seen the amazing French movie Tomboy but… One film on that channel has stuck with me, Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas.

Never has a film stayed with me long after the credits have rolled, but Paris, Texas has done exactly that, the film stars the late Harry Dean Stanton as a man called Travis Henderson who is wandering in the desert and eventually stumbled in to a bar and collapses, there in the doctors office he only has on him a phone number which the doctor calls, it’s Travis’ brother Walt, Walt now has to travel to Texas and pick him up.

After a road trip back to Walt’s house we see Travis’ son Hunter (played amazingly by child actor Hunter Carson) Hunter having zero recollection as to who his father is is shown super 8 movies of the times him and Travis were a family with Hunters’ mother.

The second half of the film is Travis taking Hunter to see his mum who works in a peep show establishment, there Travis tells the story of a young couple, the story however is about them and how Travis walked out on his wife and Hunter years ago, Travis tells his wife where Hunter is and she goes and pays him a visit.

What’s touching about this scene in particular is the way Hunter looks up from playing with his toys, gazing up at this stranger, he stands up and slowly approaches her then suddenly he remembers that yes, that is his mum standing there, it’s bittersweet and touching at the same time.

Now, straight away this is a very slow film hence why it’s called a slow burner but it’s worth the 147 minute runtime just to see the amazing cinematography by Robbie Müller and the soundtrack which by the way is outstanding by Ry Cooder, but what struck me was the amazing use of colour used throughout the film, from when Travis is in the peep show having a touching heart to heart with his wife to when Hunter sees his mum in the hotel room at the end of the film.

Paris, Texas has now become my favourite film and it’s certainly one I will be watching again and again, a solid 10/10 for this one

As always catch ya later 🙂