Lisbon Story on AllMovie

This beautifully photographed German drama is set in Lisbon, a major center for contemporary European culture, and offers insight into the nature of cinema. Sound recordist Phillip Winter is driving to Lisbon to meet his old friend Friedrich Monroe who recently sent him a postcard asking Winter to help him with a documentary, but when he arrives, Monroe is nowhere to be found. Instead, Winter only finds a few cans of film shot on an old fashioned hand cranked camera. When he is not aimlessly ambling about the beautiful city recording sounds for the film, Winters passes the time playing with the local street children who are obsessed with chronicling even the smallest events on their video cameras. He also begins falling for Teresa, the singer whose band is composing the soundtrack for the documentary. Eventually Monroe returns with a brand new vision and some strong opinions on the sorry state of contemporary cinema.