Motel Chronicles (1984)

Motel Chronicles: Directed by Wim Wenders. With Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Berry, Bernhard Wicki, Dean Stockwell. Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.

“Itu0026#39;s hard for me to select just one movie as my very favorite, but if I had to, u0026quot;Paris, Texasu0026quot; would probably be it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs I recall, I first saw it while I was a student in a small theater in u0026#39;84 or u0026#39;85; a year or two later I recorded it from cable to Beta tape. After not having watched it for years, Iu0026#39;ve played it again a few times over the last couple of years. Many movies I recall having liked in the past are just big disappointments when I watch them years later. Thatu0026#39;s not the case with this one! Then I was single; now Iu0026#39;m married. That alone makes a big difference, but I also find that even some small elements now have more meaning. I previously attached no significance to the scene where Travis was determined to find the same rental car in which he and Walt had previously driven. But how often people do sentimentally and fiercely cling to, objectively, unimportant things in reaction to having had their hearts and spirits broken more than a few times over important things. I often recall this scene when observing some instance of this in myself or others.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI am struck by what opposite opinions people have of this movie. If you have few problems relating to other people, or you donu0026#39;t care much about relating to other humans, and little in your life disappoints you over long spells of your life, you will probably find this movie very boring. I sort of envy people in this situation, though before I would want to wish myself to be like that, I pause at how much my life would be changed and how little of my personality would be left, if I did.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI, too, eagerly await the release of this movie on high quality DVD, and hope that my still barely viewable Beta will last til then.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Oh, Travis.u0026quot;”