LISBON STORY (1994) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Wim Wenders
Rudiger Vogler, Patrick Bauchau, Madredeus
A sound man named Winter travels to Lisbon from Germany to connect with a director tor named Friedrich who wants him to help with a film he's working on. When the sound man gets there, the director has disappeared, and Winter spends the next two weeks waiting for Friedrich and wandering around the city with his microphone and equipment, recording what he hears and sees. The result is part "Heart of Darkness" (only not as dark), part street-level travelogue, and part meditation on the nature of film. Like his protagonist, Wenders feels no special commitment to a tight plot. When he comes on something interesting, he'll hang around for a while, watching and listening in. That's especially true when Winter encounters the lead singer for a group called Madredeus, whose beauty and charisma (and voice) are not lost on Winter, or on Wenders. If you won't be going to Portugal anytime soon, you might want to go to this movie instead.
