A Notebook on Clothes and Cities

Rating:
Summary: Superbly thought provoking
Review: I bought my own copy of this movie after renting it. Like Latcho Drom, it's something that I've watched more times than I can count; each time, I come away with something new. Here, the meditations on who we think we are, and the shaping power of place in forming our identities (a power that's really thrown into question in our ever-more-placeless times), encourage me to think again about my own identity, and what shapes it.

There are other pleasures here as well, springing forth from the collaboration of two deeply thoughtful people, Wenders and Yamamoto. Among them--thoughts about how clothes "make the man" (or person); the paradoxical idea of fashion as an art form; how many people's work goes into making one person famous as an "artist"; whether Eastern or Japanese ideas of artistic identity differ from Western ones; and much more--you're sure to find your own themes. Some of the music is a bit overblown, but that's my only, slight reservation. The pace might seem slow, but if you slow down with it and let it speak to you (and think WITH you), you're sure to come away with a richer perspective on much in life.

PS--the DVD version has a good commentary overlay by Wenders.

Rating:
Summary: Prophetic.
Review: My original interest in this movie was Wim Wender's take on his own art-form and how he would see it develop in the near future. In his narration for 'Notebook', he tells of how his fascination with video comes about partly through its then total absence of form and grammar. 15 years down the line that's no longer the case as the plethora of reality shows will attest to.

At the time he made this movie (the late 80's), Wenders was asking some searching questions about the future of video and digital film-making. Questions that would eventually be answered by Lars Von Trier and his Dogme 95 rules, i.e. 'The Idiots' and Thomas Vinterberg's 'Festen'.

In 'Notebooks' Wenders finds his 35mm camera cumbersome and imposing. In contrast his video camera is more flexible and seems to disturb no-one. This then is the main focus of the documentary, the stark contrast between two forms of film-making, symbolized by the constant juxtaposition of Paris and Tokyo in the same shot. Paris shot in the classical style of his 35mm camera, almost cliched in its romantic results, while Tokyo vibrates with garish colours and a shaky hand (which in its own way has become a cliched style over 10 years later).

In fact most of Wenders thoughts about the future of image-making have more or less come true. He believed that the future authors of film would be the makers of commercials, video clips, electronic games and computer programs. Sadly insightful.

Rating:
Summary: How to be an original in the postmodern world ...
Review: The director of WINGS OF DESIRE and PARIS,TEXAS follows Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto around Paris, France and Tokyo (two of Wenders' favorite cities)to find out whether the concept of originality still has meaning in a world where almost everything is a commercialized copy. Wenders depicts Yamamoto and his work in much the same way he treated director Nicholas Ray in LIGHTNING ON WATER and Japanese director Ozu in TOKYO-GA. Wenders shows how Yamamoto can be both original and humane in the unlikely environment of the fashion industry, which has a reputation for exploiting the bodies it displays and equips. If you are interested in the question of Art in the Age of Reproduction, you'll enjoy this film a great deal.