"Sometimes the greatest happiness happens in the worst times"
Wim Wenders worked on this project for 14 years, spent 23 million dollars, and traveled halfway around the world, filming in 15 cities, in 7 countries, on 4 continents. He called it the ultimate road movie, although, in my opinion, it doesn't fall into that "genre" at all.
The film was released in 1991, and he set the action in 1999, so that he could insert non-existent technology into the story, while keeping the feeling as close as possible to the present. From today's perspective, the film is more retro than sci-fi. After all, the technology is only there to establish the premise for drama, adventure, and characterization and development of the characters.
Movie reviews usually include a brief description of the plot, but in this case, I don't know how to formulate that synopsis. But, it's the least important. The story is full of holes and illogicality, it is drawn out, full of meanders, and on the verge of boring, so I will not even deal with it. The other aspects of the film are what make me recommend it.
Visually, the film is gorgeous. Except for the depiction of futuristic technology, which is totally retro and silly, with Super Mario-style animations, and which possibly serves as comic relief, every frame of the film is a soul-capturing art photograph. The cast is numerous, diverse, and up to the task. Everyone can find themselves in some character and they are all built so nicely that by the end of the film, you have the impression that you knew them personally. Admittedly, the film's duration of almost 5 hours contributes to that impression quite a lot. There is also a half-shorter theatrical version, which I haven't seen, but I can say with certainty that it's not good. This movie simply cannot be cut in half and retain its qualities.
And finally the music! Wenders contacted his favorite musicians and asked them to write tracks for the film in the manner they thought they would create at the end of the century. The response was fantastic and, as he couldn't bring himself to make a shortlist, he decided to include them all. Joke or truth, Wenders said that because of the total duration of these songs, the film had to be so long. In my opinion, a wise decision. The soundtrack for this film is probably its strongest asset. If you don't have the nerve to watch a 5-hour movie, at least listen to the music, which can easily be found on YouTube.
!!! Spoiler Alert !!!
"There's a line that should never be crossed, and we passed it a long time ago."
"Until the End of the World" held my undivided attention for 4 hours and the overall impression was somewhere between a nine and a ten. Unfortunately, the final leg of this adventure, the part after the Aborigines leave the whites, turns into agony. It's as if this part was filmed by someone else. The story descends into insane exaggeration, the acting into overacting, and everything turns into something on the verge of embarrassment transfer and boredom. There are endless scenes in which we watch the protagonists of the story watching the "protected witness" quality of the image on their mobile monitors, interspersed with scenes of their psycho-physical descent into madness, all totally unconvincing and quite boring. But the excessive, pretentious, and somewhat pathetic last hour does not diminish the magnificence of the first four. Although I probably would have ended the film with the scenes closely after the death of the mother, even with this crazy, and in my opinion unnecessary, extension, the film is still very impressive and worth the investment of time.
8/10.
Wim Wenders worked on this project for 14 years, spent 23 million dollars, and traveled halfway around the world, filming in 15 cities, in 7 countries, on 4 continents. He called it the ultimate road movie, although, in my opinion, it doesn't fall into that "genre" at all.
The film was released in 1991, and he set the action in 1999, so that he could insert non-existent technology into the story, while keeping the feeling as close as possible to the present. From today's perspective, the film is more retro than sci-fi. After all, the technology is only there to establish the premise for drama, adventure, and characterization and development of the characters.
Movie reviews usually include a brief description of the plot, but in this case, I don't know how to formulate that synopsis. But, it's the least important. The story is full of holes and illogicality, it is drawn out, full of meanders, and on the verge of boring, so I will not even deal with it. The other aspects of the film are what make me recommend it.
Visually, the film is gorgeous. Except for the depiction of futuristic technology, which is totally retro and silly, with Super Mario-style animations, and which possibly serves as comic relief, every frame of the film is a soul-capturing art photograph. The cast is numerous, diverse, and up to the task. Everyone can find themselves in some character and they are all built so nicely that by the end of the film, you have the impression that you knew them personally. Admittedly, the film's duration of almost 5 hours contributes to that impression quite a lot. There is also a half-shorter theatrical version, which I haven't seen, but I can say with certainty that it's not good. This movie simply cannot be cut in half and retain its qualities.
And finally the music! Wenders contacted his favorite musicians and asked them to write tracks for the film in the manner they thought they would create at the end of the century. The response was fantastic and, as he couldn't bring himself to make a shortlist, he decided to include them all. Joke or truth, Wenders said that because of the total duration of these songs, the film had to be so long. In my opinion, a wise decision. The soundtrack for this film is probably its strongest asset. If you don't have the nerve to watch a 5-hour movie, at least listen to the music, which can easily be found on YouTube.
!!! Spoiler Alert !!!
"There's a line that should never be crossed, and we passed it a long time ago."
"Until the End of the World" held my undivided attention for 4 hours and the overall impression was somewhere between a nine and a ten. Unfortunately, the final leg of this adventure, the part after the Aborigines leave the whites, turns into agony. It's as if this part was filmed by someone else. The story descends into insane exaggeration, the acting into overacting, and everything turns into something on the verge of embarrassment transfer and boredom. There are endless scenes in which we watch the protagonists of the story watching the "protected witness" quality of the image on their mobile monitors, interspersed with scenes of their psycho-physical descent into madness, all totally unconvincing and quite boring. But the excessive, pretentious, and somewhat pathetic last hour does not diminish the magnificence of the first four. Although I probably would have ended the film with the scenes closely after the death of the mother, even with this crazy, and in my opinion unnecessary, extension, the film is still very impressive and worth the investment of time.
8/10.