Watch: Director Wim Wenders & The Road Less Traveled Video Tribute

by Alex Billington
April 17, 2024
Source: YouTube

“When I can make place and story cross, and then have a character that belongs [in] that place, then I feel I have a movie.” This lovely video tribute to the acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders is also a look back at his Road Trilogy and many beloved films over his 50+ year career. This video from Little Whie Lies and video editor Luís Azevedo is framed around his latest creation Perfect Days, which already opened in theaters (and earned him an Oscar nomination) and is now streaming on Mubi. “Wenders’ restless spirit is evident across a filmography invariably characterized by the possibilities of travel. Meditations on identity and displacement, his road movies began in Germany before taking to the freeways of the [USA] for some of cinema’s most profound explorations into the American condition. Burning rubber across continents, this collection brings together some of the legendary German filmmaker’s greatest works. So pack your bags and buckle your seatbelts for an adventure along cinema’s international highways with the one and only king of the road.” The road trilogy: Alice in the Cities (1974), Wrong Move (1975), Kings of the Road (1976). Enjoy.

“There’s a film by John Ford called The Searchers, and sometimes I think that’s my main topic… people who are searching, trying to define what they live for, trying to find the meaning of their lives, trying to find their role in life, looking for love: searching, searching, searching.” –Wim Wenders

This video was commissioned by movie magazine Little White Lies. It was edited & created by Portuguese filmmaker / editor Luís Azevedo – made for the LWL YouTube channel. For more of his videos, follow him on Twitter @LuisAFAzevedo. Sponsored by Mubi as a promotion for their release of Perfect Days and a retrospective – titled Wim Wenders: King of the Road. Their full intro to this latest tribute: “One of the most acclaimed and prolific filmmakers to emerge from the New German Cinema movement of the 1970s, Wim Wenders knows a thing or two about searching himself. In a 50-year career that has encompassed both fiction and documentary, the itinerant Düsseldorf native has made films across the globe. Japan has always held a special place in Wim Wenders’ heart, fostered by his profound love for the great Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu. Returning to Tokyo to shoot his most recent picture Perfect Days (2023), Wenders added an Oscar nomination—his fourth—to the film’s award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival.” For more info on the classic series, visit Mubi’s site. Watch more Luís Azevedo videos here. Your favorite Wenders films?