Customer Reviews

Lisbon Story [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are several aspects of this film which make me recommend it highly. There is the beautiful music of Madredeus which other reviewers have already pointed out. There is also the amazing Cinematography. I had the fortune to see this film at the AFI on a big screen several times, and was amazed by the beautiful and thoughtful camera work and the vibrant colors which capture Lisbon in a very realistic way. It is no coincidence that Philip Winter plays the Soundman, because the sounds as the visuals seems to be emphasised in this film. It's wonderful to hear and see this without any special effects. It seems that to Wenders realism is a special effect on its own. The story line in this film, as others by Wim Wenders, tends to be dismissed. I urge the viewer to pay careful attention however to the dialog, because the message is one of hope and an exhuberance of being alive, a rarity in films these days. That is where the music, the sounds and the amazing visuals come together. Subtle, yet powerful. A film for those who enjoy to gaze carefully.

The plot - Philip Winter(Rudiger Vogler), a sound engineer arrives in Lisbon to record for Friedrich Munro(Patrick Bachau) who is making a b/w film. Only he arrives to find Friedrich missing. Philip runs through some of the unfinished footage and starts to absorb the film, the smells and the LIFE of Lisbon. And in search of the missing Friedrich.

The rich colours of this work by Wim Wenders fill your senses. As Philip goes about recording the sounds, we are blasted with more than our senses can handle. A wonderful achievement in itself. The truck driver, the barber, the shoe-maker etc...help us along with this great journey.

Along this journey, we find that Friedrich is alive and filming with a hand-held. The strains and beautiful voice of Madredeus complete us in this enigmatic search. Search for..... ??

Watch this and let Wim and the cast take you....and remember to listen. A fantastic piece of Cinema and commentary.

Just for the record, for you Wenders fans out there, since other people are ignoring the fact, I feel I should tell you that this film is, both in the sense of plot and the sense of theme, Wenders' follow up to the rather cynical, but great, film he made as a commentary on his early experiences trying to make movies in America -- THE STATE OF THINGS. If you recall, in the earlier film, Patrick Bauchau -- I hope I'm spelling that right -- is forced to abandon the set of the SF movie he is making in Lisbon to travel to Hollywood to figure out why the film's backers suddenly have disappeared with the money to complete the project. Bauchau's character is clearly a Wenders alter-ego, and the film a commentary on the brutal indifference of Hollywood to anything other than money. In THIS film, Rudiger Vogler, playing Philip Winter, the more long-standing Wenders alter-ego (who dates back to ALICE IN THE CITIES, but pops up in UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD and FARAWAY SO CLOSE), plays a soundman who travels to Lisbon to figure out what happened to his friend, the Bauchau character. The movie is gentle, reflective, and constantly speaking to Wenders' long-standing thematic obsessions; but the fact that Winter is a SOUNDMAN in this movie is significant, too. Pay attention, as you watch it, to how much more important HEARING is than seeing to the film's development; Wenders is paying tribute to a generally neglected aspect of cinema, pushing his self-conscious, self-reflective focus in a new direction. It's a likable little film, and one that might appeal to fans of pre-WINGS OF DESIRE Wenders, more than people who know his later work better.

It seems that Northern European filmmakers all fall victim to the sights, smells, sun, and, especially in this film, the sounds of Lisbon. Wenders, like Tanner (In the White City-1983) before him, lets us leisurely stroll through this gorgeous sensual city which, like Europe itself, is on the precipice of losing itself in its rush for modernity. If you've ever strolled through the streets of the Alfama and heard the plaintive voices coming from the fado houses, then, in your reverie, almost get hit by a streetcar which seems to come out of nowhere, you'll love the angles and panoramas that Wenders lays out before us.

This film is hard to find in the theater or on video, but it is well worth the hunt for anyone who enjoys Wenders' films or films about the technical aspects of filmmaking. The film's star, Rudiger Vogler, is a wonderful actor and has played many different starring roles in Wenders' other films over the past 20 years or so. He is so charismatic that he really carries the film in spite of the typical (for Wenders) lack of focus and plot. This lack is not a problem with the film but rather a different view of filmmaking. "Lisbon Story" made me smile, not so much because it was funny, but because it was fun, light, excellently acted and directed, and unique.

The plot - Philip Winter(Rudiger Vogler), a sound engineer arrives in Lisbon to record for Friedrich Munro(Patrick Bachau) who is making a b/w film. Only he arrives to find Friedrich missing. Philip runs through some of the unfinished footage and starts to absorb the film, the smells and the LIFE of Lisbon. And in search of the missing Friedrich.

The rich colours of this work by Wim Wenders fill your senses. As Philip goes about recording the sounds, we are blasted with more than our senses can handle. A wonderful achievement in itself. The truck driver, the barber, the shoe-maker etc...help us along with this great journey.

Along this journey, we find that Friedrich is alive and filming with a hand-held. The strains and beautiful voice of Madredeus complete us in this enigmatic search. Search for..... ??

Watch this and let Wim and the cast take you....and remember to listen. A fantastic piece of Cinema and commentary.

I saw this movie first and only realized later that Wim Wenders also directed Wings of Desire, a film which I also enjoyed very much.

This is beautiful, quiet sort of a movie with a minimalist quality to it as it seems to have been filmed in Lisbon in the summer where it is so hot that nobody seems to be around. In that light, there is an oddly beautiful and romantic quality to vibes of lonliness presented in the film.

Without giving away too much, the film is about a man in Germany who is a sound maker, so to speak, for movies. He receives a post card (from Lisbon), in a pile of mail (that has been piling up for who knows how long). He discovers that his movie director buddy has desperately asked for his assistance in a project.

The introduction takes our primary character thru Germany, France, Spain, and into Portugal to arrive at Lisbon. The heart rendering solitude sets up the film for beauty, romance, and warm comedy that provides the fun loving spices to a wonderful cinematic broth of hope.

Our character discovers that his film friend is no where to be found. The movie becomes a puzzle of him trying to find his friend as he stays in his friends house and reads thru his notes trying to figure out where he is and what has happened to him.

In this, he discovers Madredeus (who are a real Portuguese band acting as themselves) and the inspiration from their music inspires him to rediscover his antiquated art of sound making.

The story features beautiful music from Madredeus. As a man, you cannot help but fall in love with Teresa Salgueiro in a scene towards the end of the movie where she goes on tour again and walks away down Lisbon stairs to a car where she is going on tour again. She is such a loveable soul in this movie. And from her musings, the movie is one that really goes deep into the heart of longing.

When she asked him, "how is your leg" and he replied, "how is your leg? how are your eyes? your face...." That movie scene I can identify so deeply with that it creates to me one of the most beautiful depictions of longing that I have ever seen in a movie. I got butterflies in my stomach during that scene because I understand the feeling.

But that feeling in this movie represents more than a romantic longing of a beautiful woman. It symbolizes that romantic longing for creating movies itself.

This is a movie for your collection, one to watch in the quiet of lonely night where only on film, romance so beautiful could ever be captured.

Forget the zany story line (I prefer Smoke Signals) but listen to Madredeus, a truly phenomenal group and the incredible Teresa Salgueiro whose voice is like none other. She will come back to haunt you - and the record Ainda is marvellous. The movie is Winders at his less than best

Madredeus' music is unbelievable! Wim Wenders did the movie just for the band, and it's just fine bey me.

i'm sorry to write this, but this was one of the worse movies i have ever seen... i remember seeing this in the theater in lisbon and actually falling asleep during it. i am giving it two stars though: one for the madredeus, which are in fact worth listening to (but for this you should rather buy their cds). the other one is for that scene where manoel de oliveira (mdo) does a fantastic charlot. for those not familiar with mdo, he is the only filme director alive to have directed silent movies back in the 20s and 30s... he still directs fairly good movies...

as for the rest of the movie, it isnt even original. i think wenders has another movie on a similar character randomly filming berlin (if i am not mistaken)...