Until The End Of The World, I can't believe how bad this is!

Cafe Society
1

I had seen good things about this movie for years, so I sat down to watch the director’s cut which is no easy task at more than four hours long!

:confused:This movie is horrible, there is basically 0 plot aside from what appear to be insane characters chasing people around the world for no real reason and vague background mentions of a Indian sattelite that is going to mean the end of the world maybe.

Claire the protagonist is flat insane, she starts the movie as a drug addict who decides instantly to get clean and runs into some bank robbers on the run who she decides to help. In the process of that she runs into an unrelated criminal played by William Hurt who she forms a crush on and decides she will chase him to the ends of the earth(she does). In the process he robs her, has sex with her and then leaves her handcuffed, continually dumps her and runs away only for her to follow him. :smack: Creepy and annoying character.

The character played by Sam Neil is Claire’s ex boyfriend, but apparently Claire is just so wonderful he is willing to not only assist in her quest for William Hurt’s cock, but go to any length to do anything Claire wants. :smack: Another creepy and annoying character.

The character played by William Hurt seems to have the most sense of the lot, there is also a bumbling private detective.

The good things:

1.Really amazing location shooting all over the world, really beautiful.

2.Really cool “near future” props and sets and gadgets that are truthfully now kind of retro, but look really cool like something out of a Gilliam movie.

I made it as far as Claire finding Hurt in Japan in a pachinko parlor, inexplicably Hurt was blind so Claire dumps Neil and the detective to go hide out in the Japanese countryside with Hurt and heal his blindness with herbs and sex.:smack:

It is like a cross between a shaggy dog road movie and a romantic comedy full of people I find annoying!

2

Each to their own. It’s one of my favorite films.
Edit to add that I’ve never seen the Director’s Cut, but I’ve seen the theatrical version several times in the theater and on laserdisc. Wim Wenders is one of my favorite directors and a thrill of my life was meeting him once. My favorite film by him is still Wings Of Desire. I suggest you not watch it.

3

The soundtrack alone makes this a winner.

Equipoise reminds me, earlier this year I bought the Criterion “Wings of Desire” disc…a film I haven’t seen since it was released, but loved hugely. The DVD got lost in he shuffle somehow… I suppose I should dig that out and watch it.

4

Yeah, I wonder if grude has seen any other Wim Wenders films and, if so, what his opinons have been. He’s one of those directors you either love or you don’t. Going on the surprise reaction “basically 0 plot”, I’m guessing this is a first time exposure to the director.

5

I saw the movie in the theaters when it was first released, and was unimpressed, except for the music. I instantly went out and got the soundtrack album, and it is still one of my favorites to this day. Music that sounds like it is “from the near future.” I often pair it with the *Twin Peaks *soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti on shuffle.

6

There is a plot, but it is so thin. Basically Claire runs into bank robbers and decides hey why not help transport the stolen money, she runs into Hurt and he robs her but hey she has fallen madly in love with him and is going to pursue him to the ends of the earth no matter how often he spurns her, and for whatever reason her ex is going to do so too. The characters need motivation for their bizarre actions.

Wow two hours into movie finally the brain recorder is introduced, I’m guessing this is the main plot?

I was advised that the theatrical release was butchered and the director’s cut was the only version to watch, but I have spent my time so far wishing an editor had gone to work on this lol. Bizarrely even in the director’s cut there are some bizarre edits, Claire will be held at gunpoint and then next thing the guy holding her at gunpoint is tied up with no indication how. We can guess how, but for a four hour movie that is some bad editing.

7

You might watch it sometime when you can actually pay attention. I know that sounds rude but you’ve missed so many points already, and you haven’t even watched it to the end. Claire was not a drug addict, for one. When you first meet her she’s got a hangover from a party. She’s been deeply hurt because her lover, the Sam Neill character, cheated on her, so she tries to forget him. They have a history though and can’t unbond so easily. He’s realized how stupid he was and wants to give her time to heal, but cares enough to help her when she’s in trouble, needs money, and when he realizes that there’s also an undeniable bond between Claire and Sam, who is not really a criminal, btw. Claire senses Sam’s deeper goodness and is intrigued by him. She’s in pretty much a “Who gives a fuck?” mode anyway (come on, we’ve all been there at one time or another), and following him is an adventure. That’s why she helps the bank robbers too.

You’re watching this piecemeal and judging it bit by bit. I can’t imagine doing that with any movie, let alone this one.

You judge these people but for now have no idea what the motivations of most of these characters are. After watching once, upon second viewing it’s like a completely different movie and every move they all make makes absolute sense. Not that I would expect someone (anyone, not just you) to re-watch a movie they didn’t like the first time, but it does have a plot, a pretty good one, and to me it’s a joy to spend time with these people, now that I know who they are and where they’re coming from. I could watch it dozens of times and revel in the same things you liked, plus the characters, and the atmosphere, and the music.

Oh the music. Yes, the soundtrack is amazing (thank you Wikipedia and YouTube! I couldn’t find all the songs):

Graeme Revell: “Opening Titles” (Revell) (Solo cello performed by David Darling) – 1:59
Talking Heads: “Sax and Violins” (David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth) – 5:18
Julee Cruise: “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” (Jack Lloyd, Ben Weisman, Fred Wise) – 2:37
Neneh Cherry: “Move With Me (Dub)” (Cherry, Cameron McVey) – 2:58
Crime and the City Solution: “The Adversary” (Bronwyn Adams, Simon Bonney, Chris Haas, Alexander Hacke, Mick Harvey, Thomas Stern) – 5:32
Lou Reed: “What’s Good” (Reed) – 5:07
Can: “Last Night Sleep” (Malcolm Mooney, Jaki Liebezeit, Michael Karoli, Irmin Schmidt) – 3:35
R.E.M.: “Fretless” (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe and featuring Kate Pierson) – 4:49
Elvis Costello: “Days” (Ray Davies) – 4:49
Graeme Revell: “Claire’s Theme” (Revell) (Solo cello performed by David Darling) – 0:51
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: “(I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World” (Nick Cave) – 4:38
Patti Smith and Fred “Sonic” Smith: “It Takes Time” (Smith, Smith) – 5:00
Depeche Mode: “Death’s Door” (Martin Gore) – 3:53
Graeme Revell: “Love Theme” (Revell) (Solo cello performed by David Darling) – 0:45
Jane Siberry and k.d. lang: “Calling All Angels” (Siberry) – 5:11 (this fan video uses clips from Wings of Desire)
T-Bone Burnett: “Humans from Earth” (Burnett) – 3:07
Daniel Lanois: “Sleeping in the Devil’s Bed” (Lanois) – 3:50
U2: “Until the End of the World” (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.) – 4:33
Graeme Revell: “Finale” (Revell) (Solo cello performed by David Darling) – 0:58
Additional music

Other music, used in the film, not on the soundtrack album:

Peter Gabriel: “Blood of Eden” (standard version appeared on his album Us, 1992; the mix for Until the End of the World was included on disc one of a set of “Blood of Eden” CD singles, 1993) (music starts at 1:48)
Robbie Robertson: “Breakin the Rules” (appeared on his album Storyville, 1991)
Neneh Cherry: “Move with Me” (appeared on her album Homebrew, 1993)
U2: “Until the End of the World” (The soundtrack album includes a second version of the song, which features a different intro and more percussion. The version used in the film is that appearing on Achtung Baby, 1991.)
Gondwanaland: “Lagoons” (appeared on their album Wide Skies, 1992)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams: “Travelin’ Light” (appeared on their album It’s the Talk of the Town and Other Sad Songs, 1985)
Chubby Checker: “The Twist”
Elvis Presley: “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” (first appeared on the compilation Elvis for Everyone, 1965)
Laurent Petitgand: “La Vieil Homme De La Mer” (English translation “The Old Man from the Sea”)
The Aka Pygmy and Indigenous Australian music used in the film are from field recordings from two collections: Centrafrique: Anthologie de la musique des Pygmées Aka, 1978, and Les Aborigènes: Chants et danses de l’Australie du nord, 1979, respectively.
“Mo boma”, “Nze-Nze-Nze” and “Kulu-Kulu” from Anthologie de la Musique des Pygmées Aka
“Galkan,” from Chants et Danses de L’Australie du Nord
Extra music scenes from the movie itself, including Solveig Dommartin (RIP) singing “Days”

8

I got the idea to do a search and, yes, my spidey-sense was correct: grude, it was you who started a Thread a couple months ago about The Passenger.

So, it seems you are on an active quest to expand your knowledge and appreciation for films. I applaud you. Even with a couple of films that you are not connecting with, I am sure that on the whole you are having fun.

Equipoise makes some excellent points about this particular film, but I don’t think you should try to force yourself to like it. Either you connect with it or you don’t. The more different kinds of films that you watch, however, the easier it will be to connect with storytelling styles that previously may have seemed inaccessible to you.

Perhaps after you take in some more films, some more perspectives and styles, you may come back to Wim Wenders and find that you see something you didn’t see before. Maybe after staying away from him for a bit, come back and watch a different one of his films. If you enjoy it, maybe then rewatch Until The End of The World.

All in all, though, your exploration of the medium should be enjoyable. It shouldn’t feel like homework.

Are there any revival movie houses in your area? Sometimes seeing reputed “Great” films with an actual audience make a world of a difference in how you receive it. If no revival movie houses, a University with a film club, perhaps?

Keep up the noble pursuit! There are a lot of wonderful films out there that will never be spoon fed to you by the local multiplex. I’m glad you’re doing this.

May I ask, are there any films that you like that you found to be challenging to sit through on the first viewing?

9

One other thing…Until The End of the World is one of those films where the soundtrack is another character, and if you are not the type of person who pays a lot of attention to the soundtrack, the stretches of the film where the director intended for your attention to be on the soundtrack may seem boring, or that nothing is happening. One of my favorite films, One From The Heart, is like that. Half the story is told via Tom Waits’ songs, and if you don’t listen to the lyrics, you’ll only get half the movie.

10

Have you watched the director’s cut? Sam Neil in voiceover narration(god that is another annoyance the constant narration by his character, worse than the original Blade Runner) says that her lifestyle was going to result in her death if she didn’t get away, the drug use was implied to more than a simple party.

You know what I’m going to get the original theatrical release and watch THAT and see how it changes my view of this.

11

My husband claims I have seen the Director’s Cut, but I don’t remember. I may be blending the two, like I do with Stephen King’s Original/Uncut The Stand. It’s been a long time so what I have to do is watch each of them again to separate them out.

Did you make it to the end? Then you’ll know that the narration comes from the book Sam Neill’s character wrote, that Claire is reading. After he cheated on her she just went into “don’t give a fuck” mode. I don’t remember anything about drugs, just parties and hanging around with dodgy people, and doing reckless things such as, as we see, helping bank robbers (who were pretty funny actually, there’s a lot of humor in the movie) and latching on to Farber.

Do the motivations of the characters make more sense now? Farber had good reason to “steal” back his father’s invention. He had good reason to not want Claire following him. He liked her, but he had an important mission that he had to get done before his mother died and Claire was clueless and attracting the attention of the bounty hunter. He’s not a thief at heart, but he needed money for his mission and that’s why he robbed Claire. He probably assumed it would discourage her too. He didn’t know Claire very well.

Farber was doing everything he did, stealing back the invention and traveling the world to visit as many relatives as he could, out of love for his blind and dying mother, and to try and be accepted by his father. It really is a very beautiful film, especially once the confusion is gone. I was as confused as you the first time I saw it, and then by the end I went “Oh! Ok!” and went to see it again and it all made so much more sense, and I found the beauty and humanity of it to be deeply moving.

Plus, I love the humor, and the music, and Solveg Dommartin (who also appeared in Wenders’ Wing of Desire and who has since died), and the locations, and everything else. The movie was wrong about how dismal and dirty the future would be (well, some) but the future tech (much of which turned out to be spot on, such as talking GPS in cars, Internet search engines, small video cameras) was fascinating.

12

Plus, I’m with bienville. I should have been as diplomatic because I agree with him 100%. You like a lot of movies I think are wonderful. You have great taste. It’d sound selfish and arrogant to say that I’m disappointed you didn’t get into this, but I guess I am. I would have wanted you to like it. Maybe you will like the theatrical cut better. If so I’ll rejoice. If not, ah well.

13

I watched this on video years ago.

I don’t really remember much except for that bear. “I’m searching. I’m searching.”

14

Honestly that was one point where I was astounded, the absolute spot on prediction of technology. I’ve never seen something so prescient, in 1991 they predicted GPS, handheld PCs, digital cameras/video, use of credit cards on automated machines like payphones/vending machines, it goes on and on. That was interesting and I kept having to remind myself this movie was made in 1991.

I finished watching it and I’ll admit once the plane was in the air all the way to the end I was totally absorbed into the film and loved it, not once was I bored. I liked Max Syndow and the lab etc. I still think some small indication earlier in the film of the device or the end game would have been appreciated, something to keep the viewers interest.

15

I have to rush off to work, but I’m so glad to hear that you liked the Outback section! If you do watch the theatrical I’d be interested in knowing if the characters annoy you as much in the Travel section, now that you know who they are and where they’re heading. Btw, in the soundtrack section above, a portion of their exhilarating and nail-biting plane ride is shown in the clip for Peter Gabriel’s “Blood of Eden.” I could watch that over and over again.

Yeah, that bear! I was so wtF?! the first time I saw the movie!

16

It’s not that impressive. All of that stuff existed in 1991, they just weren’t readily available to the public.

17

“I’m searching here… I’m searching there… I’m the bear. I’m searching.”

I liked this movie a lot, but I haven’t seen it in a decade, and certainly not a directors cut. Hmmmm

18

Saw it in the theater when it first came out - my date and I immediately went looking for an open record store to buy the sound track. Liked the movie: loved the music - still do.