31 Performances Ripe for Rediscovery (3) Nastassja Kinski in PARIS, TEXAS (WITH A GUEST CONTRIBUTION FROM STACEY MARK)

"I used to make long speeches to you after you left. I used to talk to you all the time, even though I was alone. I walked around for months talking to you. Now I don't know what to say. It was easier when I just imagined you. I even imagined you talking back to me. We'd have long conversations, the two of us. It was almost like you were there. I could hear you, I could see you, smell you. I could hear your voice. Sometimes your voice would wake me up. It would wake me up in the middle of the night, just like you were in the room with me. Then... it slowly faded. I couldn't picture you anymore. I tried to talk out loud to you like I used to, but there was nothing there. I couldn't hear you. Then... I just gave it up. Everything stopped. You just... disappeared. And now I'm working here. I hear your voice all the time. Every man has your voice..."

I have written so much on the career and life of Nastassja Kinski in the past six years that I am not sure what more I can say with this little tribute.  Simply put, Kinski's work in Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas is my favorite performance of all-time. 

The only reason's Kinski's work as Jane isn't number one on this list is due to the fact that, unlike most on this roles on this countdown, her work has garnered a considerable cult-following.  Kinski's work in this film has influenced a countless number of artists since...in film, music, fashion and photography.

 

When thinking on Kinski in Paris, Texas the moment that always comes to my mind first is the astonishing close-up that Wenders' captures of her during Harry Dean Stanton's moving monologue towards the film's shattering conclusion.  This close-up, which lasts for several minutes without a cut is my favorite cinematic moment ever...it represents cinema at its purest and Kinski shows herself as an artist of staggering composure, grace and skill.  It's the kind of monumental moment most 'great' actors strive for throughout their entire career but few ever reach.

Kinski's presence looms so large over all of Paris, Texas that it is hard to believe how relatively small her part in the film actually is.  Wenders understood that Jane had to be played by someone so electrifying that just a photograph of her would make us understand Stanton's obsessive and epic journey.  

It is fitting that Nastassja Kinski had her greatest screen moment for Wim Wenders.  It was after all Wenders who had discovered her in the mid-seventies and given Kinski her first role, in the brilliant Wrong Move.  The two would reunite again in the nineties for the undervalued Faraway So Close.  Listening to Wender's commentary on the Paris, Texas DVD one can hear how important the collaborations were to both artists.

While the celebrated close-up of Kinski is her most iconic scene in Paris, Texas there are many other smaller moments which are just as resonate and special including this one:

and especially this one:

Nastassja Kinski's work in Paris, Texas has influenced and haunted many notable artists including Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith (both called Paris, Texas their favorite film before their tragic passings).  The film and Kinski also inspired one of my favorite photographers, the fabulous Stacey Mark, who, along with model Hailey Gates, paid special tribute to the film in the July/August 2011 edition of Jalouse magazine.

Stacey Mark has been one of my favorite photographers for several years now and we struck up an online friendship, which I greatly value, a couple of years back.  Stacey's work is absolutely mesmerizing and has graced the pages of Nylon (she worked as their photo director for a time), Purple, Jacques, Lula and many many other publications.  She has photographed everyone from Emily Blunt to Kate Bosworth and her stunning shots of Asia Argento have already become the stuff of legend.  Outside of being one of America's most gifted young artists, Stacey is a really special person and I am so honored that she agreed to stop by here and share her memories of her Paris, Texas inspired Jalouse photo shoot.  After reading, please pay a visit to Stacey's official site, follow her at Tumblr and like her page on Facebook.  

All right, enough of my rambling...let's here from the awesome Stacey Mark, one of the most inspiring people I know (and a fellow Roxy Music devotee to boot!).

-Jeremy Richey, 2013-

When Jalouse Magazine proposed I shoot a "Paris, Texas" inspired fashion story, I immediately said "no." The image of Nastassja Kinski in that fuzzy pink sweater behind the reflective glass of her peep show room is often imitated but never duplicated. Many photographers have tried and most have failed. Not only was I turned off to the idea of being the one of many artists to attempt this intimidating feat, the fact that the magazine wanted me to create 12 pages based on one iconic image seemed impossible.

The overall theme of the issue was to cast theater student and international girl of mystery Hailey Gates as the lead in all of her favorite films. When I researched Hailey, I learned that not only is her father the television director Tucker Gates, her grandmother is Joan Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury wrote two of Robert Altmans most respected films, Nashville and Thieves Like Us. With heritage like that, who am I to stand in the way of her cinematic dreams? Hailey as Kinski in a 12 page Kinski in 'Paris, Texas' it is.

I enlisted some of the best artists I know to recreate Kinski's butter blond bob to hide Hailey's waist length brown hair, her subtle yet seductive makeup and a wardrobe stylist to hunt down that fuzzy sweater. I decided to have the entire shoot take place in the imaginary room behind the glass. Budget concerns forced me to turn my Brooklyn apartment into a makeshift Texan peep show. 

Fast forward to the recreation of that scene. That scene was haunting me the entire shoot and I had decided to do it at the very end of the day as the very last shot. The wardrobe stylist found a replica of that sweater, the hair stylist had recreated that hair and it was up to me to recreate that scene. We created a background of curtains based on the colors of her the scene, and set the lights around Hailey to both light her from the front with a warm spotlight as well as a light behind her to create a backlit glow. Having the bright lights almost blind her had the same effect as the one way mirror: I could see her but she could barely see me. The apartment was dark except for the light as an iphone quitely repeated the familiar creepy sound of the film's score. It was the first time all day that everyone was silent...hushed. There are few moments where you "experience" a photo, and this was one of those moments. Hailey looked at the lens with longing, the heat and brightness of the lights forced tears down her cheeks. This was, for me and the rest of the crew, our iconic moment.

-Stacey Mark, 2013-

Thanks again to Stacey for submitting this fascinating piece!  After visiting her sites please also check out the official page of the much anticipated film The Turning, which Stacey appears in (and graces the poster of, as seen here):

Paris, Texas: The Comic???

Here's quite an oddity that has recently popped up on eBay. Anyone here have a copy of this Spanish Comic adaptation of Paris, Texas that was published back in 1990?

My Favorite Closing Shots: Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas

In Through The Mirror...

The Dancing Image was kind enough to tag me in a new meme that is going around so what follows is my little contribution to it. This meme began at this link from Checking on My Sausages and I am thrilled to take part in it. The original meme asked that we submit "a gallery of images ...to stand for so much of what makes Cinema such a rich and exciting medium." Now, I gotta tell ya, that's a pretty tall order so I am just following The Dancing Image's lead of offering up some stills I have captured with a certain theme. This particular theme, as you can see below, focuses on mirrors and self-image in film. I simply captured stills from the first twelve films I thought of that had a pivotal moment involving a character staring into a mirror. Some are shocked by what they see, others are thrilled, but they are all discovering something new and different about themselves. For most of these characters, they simply no longer recognize the person staring back. I relate to all these shots for various reasons and I find them all moving in there own way. Of course, there are hundreds of other films I could have selected for this but, like I said, I simply went with the first twelve that popped in my head.
Here are the rules for the meme if you choose to participate as copied partially from The Dancing Image:

1. Pick as many pictures as you want - but make them screen-captures. These need to be moments that speak to you that perhaps haven't been represented as stills before.

2. Pick a theme, any theme. If you want, you can follow my lead and chose "Mirror Shots" but won't it be more interesting if everybody chooses something different?

3. You MUST link to Stephen's original gallery and my post if I am tagging you and you choose to participate (hey, I could use some new readers so help a brother out!)
Also, if you could please link back to The Dancing Image as well, I would greatly appreciate it.

4. Tag five blogs.


Here are the five bloggers I would like to see tackle this interesting and wide-open meme if they are interested:

Amanda at Made for TV Mayhem

J.D. at Radiator Heaven

DforDoom at Cult Movie Reviews

Hans at Quite Cool

David at Tomb it May Concern.





Rita Hayworth in Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai (1947)



Sylvia Kristel in Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle (1974)



David Bowie in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)



Sylvester Stallone in John G. Avildsen's Rocky (1976)



Roy Scheider and Jessica Lange in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979)



Zoe Tamerlis in Abel Ferrara's MS.45 (1981)



Lysa Thatcher in Cecil Howard's Neon Nights (1981)



Nastassja Kinski in Wim Wenders' Paris Texas (1984)



Elisabeth Shue in Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas (1995)



Asia Argento in Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)



Mark Wahlberg in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997)



Isabelle Fuhrman in the unused ending of Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan (2009)

Paris, Texas Now Out on Criterion

I couldn't let the week slip by without mentioning that Wim Wender's astounding 1984 film Paris, Texas has just been released as part of the prestigious Criterion Collection. This set has been greatly anticipated by a lot of folks, myself included, who consider Wender's film among the best ever made and I am thrilled that it is finally out. The two-disc set contains everything from a great commentary track from Wenders to appreciations from filmmaking fans like Allison Anders and Claire Denis. It also contains a documentary, deleted scenes and a written contribution from Nastassja Kinski, who delivers one of my all-time favorite performances in the film. I highly recommend the set, which can be ordered from Amazon here.

Wender's Paris, Texas Now Out on Criterion

I couldn't let the week slip by without mentioning that Wim Wender's astounding 1984 film Paris, Texas has just been released as part of the prestigious Criterion Collection. This set has been greatly anticipated by a lot of folks, myself included, who consider Wender's film among the best ever made and I am thrilled that it is finally out. The two-disc set contains everything from a great commentary track from Wenders to appreciations from filmmaking fans like Allison Anders and Claire Denis. It also contains a documentary, deleted scenes and a written contribution from Nastassja Kinski, who delivers one of my all-time favorite performances in the film. I highly recommend the set, which can be ordered from Amazon here.
Also out this week are two of my favorite films from 2009, Drew Barrymore's terrific Whip It and the moving Michael Jackson concert film This Is It.

Odds And Ends: Paris, Texas

PARIS, TEXAS, alongside TESS, would provide Nastassja the best reviews of her career. It would also re team her for the second of three times with the man who first directed her, Wim Wenders, and it remains among the greatest films she ever appeared in.
Her long scene with Harry Dean Stanton towards the end of this film is my all time favorite, with the long close up of her face being my favorite particular shot. I hope everyone has enjoyed my small look at it here, and will accept my apologies for not writing a full review for it yet. I am just feeling a bit too close to the film right now to really write on it. I will return to it eventually and do a full write up on the film.

PARIS, TEXAS and the film that I will be covering next, MARIA'S LOVERS, would close the most famous part of Nastassja Kinski's career. The disastrous REVOLUTION would effectively end her time in the States for several years, and in a way it is this period of her career where she went back to Europe that I look forward to covering the most. It is the most underwritten about and produced some of her best work.
For now though, it will be MARIA'S LOVERS...a film that is in its own way as powerful and as effective as TESS, MOON IN THE GUTTER or PARIS, TEXAS. I hope everyone will enjoy my upcoming look at it.

15. Paris, Texas

It is among the loneliest opening shots in film history. After a red on black credits crawl set to the eerie strains of Ry Cooder's haunting score, we are suddenly given an impossibly bright and soaring long wide shot of an abandoned planet.
The camera pans quickly over the dried up and destroyed caverns of rock and dust as though it is flying without wings. This landscape might be a destroyed earth in the future or perhaps just some sad forgotten land deserted by a very angry God.
In the distance we see a figure moving. The camera moves in closer and we see it is a man. He is walking. He is alone. The aching slide guitar that fills the soundtrack becomes louder as our point of view switches to a lone eagle perched on high. Like us, he is watching this strange and solitary figure who is walking over this very barren landscape.
Then we are given a close up of the man. He stops as if to let us study his face. We've seen him before in many other films...but never like this. He's clearly exhausted, bearded and impossibly thin. His clothes are tattered and only a sad bright red hat on his forehead separates his figure from the ruins around him. The hat stands out against the bright blue sky behind him as he struggles to find a drop of water in an empty milk container he is clutching onto. Near Motionlessly he puts the cap back on it and drops it on the ground. The sound seems to signal the music to get louder and even lonelier, as our lost figure who is now in the distance again continues walking.
Where he is from we don't know. Where he is going we don't know...but we have to follow. Not because we want to necessarily, but perhaps because we have to. For, in these striking opening moments of PARIS, TEXAS director Wim Wender's photographed not just a desert landscape but the interior of loneliness itself...and we understand that to truly escape it, we must follow it...

My full review of PARIS, TEXAS will be posted here sometime in the future...

Nastassja On Wenders, Paris Texas and Some More Favorites

Even though PARIS, TEXAS is the finest film Nastassja ever made (although an argument can be made for TESS) it is very hard finding quotes by her about it. There is a pretty logical reason for this, as she had her first child shortly after the production wrapped so she didn't give the same number of interviews she had on her other films.
I did manage to find the rare French clipping above which isn't directly related to PARIS, TEXAS but it was made around the same time. It is basically Nastassja naming many of her favorite things, and I hope it is of some interest. Nastassja has been very forthcoming about people she admires over the years, and I plan on compiling a list at some point for here.
Below are two quotes focusing on Wim Wenders that Nastassja gave to interviewers that I think shows that he is among her favorite filmmakers and people. If I can manage to come across any more quotes by her on the film in the future, I will post them.

"I look back at my life then...and I feel how lucky I was to encounter certain people and have the chance to get to away from where I was...to make my own life, build it from scratch. It's thanks to people who believed in me and helped me-like Wim, like Roman Polanski, like Francis Coppola..."

"I remember when Wim and his wife asked me to do WRONG MOVEMENT. Wim was so calm, he was almost slow motion-he's less so now than he was then-and I thought that was so different and so nice. He was imaginative when he spoke to us, and everyone really go along...he treated me with a lot of respect, and Hanna Schygulla was like that too. They created an atmosphere that was like a nest for me, very very warm. I felt Wim really cared. We didn't speak much in the next few years, but when he told me the story about this character in PARIS TEXAS who had a child and how her relationship with her husband had fallen apart, it really touched me, because I had my baby growing inside of me. Wim said, 'I want you for this role because I fell we really know each other. I know you're waiting for your baby, and it's a special moment for you.' I'm truly lucky that he saw me and believed in me and truly lucky to have worked with him three times..."

Rare Scans #19 (Film Comment Paris Texas Feature)

Here is an article frrom the May/June 1984 issue written by none other than L.M. Kit Carson on the shooting of PARIS, TEXAS. Please enlarge to read.

Rare Scans #18 (American Cinematographer March 85 Paris, Texas Feature)

I apologize for the poor quality of these scans, but this article on Robby Muller shooting PARIS, TEXAS is essential. Please enlarge to read.
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