Until The End Of The World - My favourite movie of all time

In my mind, I have a list of my favourite movies. When I see a movie that enters the top 10 this is great news. It means that this movie has affected me in some important way. But the number one movie in this list has remained constant for decades. It's "Until The End Of The World" by Wim Wenders.

It all happened quite by accident. It was on late at night, on a summer's night on a Greek TV channel. I sat down to watch it because I thought "Ah, that's the movie where that U2 song is featured". I had a few doubts at first because it was a Wim Wenders movie and I considered him to be a "difficult" director. Three hours later, as the credits were rolling I was sitting, dumbfounded, on my couch thinking "What the **** has just happened?" I couldn't believe what I had just seen and experienced. I knew right there and then that this was the best movie I had ever seen.

But the question is "why?" Why was this the best movie ever, at least for me? Well, I guess that it has to do with all the travelling done in the movie. Indeed, I love road movies, but this is a road movie whose characters are moving all around the world, a world which comes close to destruction, but in the end, while our heroes have gathered at one of its most remote corners,  (SPOILER ALERT!), it is saved. That the two main characters fall in love during this journey, probably has something to do with it as well. Not to mention that it was set at the turn of the millennium which was then still a few years ahead in the future (This is after all a 1991 movie).

Another reason is the soundtrack. As you probably know well by know, music plays an important role - probably the most important - in my life. And although my decision to watch this movie the first time was because it contained a U2 song, which in fact is its title track ("Until The End Of The World" originally from "Achtung Baby"), it was other songs featured in the movie that made me fall in love with it. My favourites are : "Silent Kisses, Winter Tears" performed by Julee Cruise (but then again, this song was produced by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, a fact which says quite a lot), Nick Cave's "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World" (his "thank you girl" line at the beginning of the chorus is just sublime), "Death's Door" by Depeche Mode (all DM songs - at least during that era - sung by Martin Gore tended to be more downtempo and atmospheric and thus, appropriate for a movie), and finally the best one: "Calling All Angels". I love k.d. lang's voice, even though she's just a guest providing additional vocals on a song performed by Jane Siberry. Their combined vocals in the chorus is, in my opinion. the highlight of this soundtrack. There is also "Days", a Kinks cover by Elvis Costello, but no version of this song ever is going to surpass the one sung by Kirsty McCall in 1989.

The connection of Wim Wenders with U2 continued with his next movie "Faraway, So Close" which featured "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" from the "Zooropa" album as its title track. That movie was actually the sequel to his earlier "Wings Of Desire". Because of this fact, I also watched these last two movies and Wim Wenders, whom at first I had thought of as "difficult", became one of my favourite directors. On top of that, I fell in love with Solveig Dommartin who stars in all these three movies I have discussed here and I was deeply saddened, years later, when I learned that she was no longer with us.

"Until The End Of The World" may be my favourite movie of all time, but this isn't a view that is shared by many others. The movie didn't get good reviews and it seems its production was chaotic, mainly due to the fact that it was shot all over the world using different, mainly local, crews. But I love it, and the atmosphere it creates and I find myself watching it again every once in a while. In fact, the reason I'm writing this blog post now, is because a couple of months ago I watched the  4 hour director's cut for the first time from a special 3DVD box set. Meanwhile Wim Wenders had once again collaborated with U2 on "The Million Dollar Hotel" and it wasn't until years later that I finally watched what is considered by critics to be Wim Wenders's finest film, "Paris Texas".

And since I have mentioned my favourite movie list, here is how it currently stands:

01. Until The End Of The World - Wim Wenders (1991)
02. Dark City - Alex Proyas (1998)
03. Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino (1994)
04. Donnie Darko - Richard Kelly (2001)
05. Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson (2012)
06. Loving Vincent - Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman (2017)
07. Bohemian Rhapsody - Bryan Singer (2018)
08. Le Havre - Aki Kaourismaki (2011)
09. The Corporation -  Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott (2003)
10. Casablanca - Michael Curtiz (1942)
11. Before The Rain - Milcho Manchevski (1994)
12. Forrest Gump - Robert Zemeckis (1994)
13. Ghostbusters - Ivan Reitman (1984)
14. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick (1980)
15. Planet Terror - Robert Rodriguez (2007)
16. The Wall - Alan Parker (1982)
17. High Fidelity - Stephen Frears (2000)
18. Three Colours Red - Krzysztof Kieslowski (1994)
19. Mulholland Drive - David Lynch (2001)
20. Summer Lovers - Randal Kleiser (1982)

Greetings From Bury Park

 

Us Bruce Springsteen fans were quite excited when the "Blinded By The Light" movie was released a few years ago. It told the story of a British Asian teenager who was a Springsteen fan in the 80's. I've seen the movie at the cinema, bought the DVD and the soundtrack CD which featured some rare live tracks and a "new" song "I'll Stand By You" which was originally intended for the first Harry Potter movie. Not to mention a couple of other 80's songs by A-Ha and the Pet Shop Boys. So why am I writing this now? Well, it's because I've also read the book. It's called "Greetings From Bury Park" and it goes much further than the storyline of the movie.

It tells us all about his life, not just as a teenager as we see him in the movie, but as an adult as well, who gets married and becomes a father. But the most important thing is that it shows us how Bruce Springsteen appeals to everyone, no matter what colour, religion or nationality. And it shows us how his music can help people through hard times, even if they're not the "typical" American fan.
Having lived in Britain myself, during most of the period that the main events in the book take place, and having socialized with members of the British Asian community while I was there, many of the things and events described in the book are familiar to me.
If you're Bruce fans you have probably already seen the movie, but I strongly urge you to read the book as well.