(1987)
5
Lucia Bozzola
After seven years in the U.S., New German Cinema director Wim Wenders returned to Germany for this meditation on existence, mortality, time, and Berlin, the city in which it is set. Co-written with frequent collaborator Peter Handke, the odyssey of two guardian angels becomes a means for Wenders to examine poetically the fractured "soul" of the still-divided Berlin. Mixing black-and-white and color, and aerial photography with street-level shooting, Wenders contrasts the contemplative distance of the angels with the emotional vicissitudes of daily life. Damiel's desire to trade his wings for a chance at full-color human romance with a circus performer becomes a descent into a forward-moving present that threatens pain as well as potential joy. The fall of the Berlin Wall only two years later makes Wings of Desire seem more prescient than obsolete. Praised for its imaginative lyricism, the film won Wenders the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival; the 1993 sequel Faraway, So Close was not as well-received, and the film was Hollywoodized as City of Angels in 1998.
awards for Wings of Desire on AllMovie
Wings of Desire (1987)
Cannes Film Festival
European Film Academy
|
Won |
Best Director
|
1988 |
|
Won |
Best Supporting Actor
|
1988 |
Independent Spirit Awards
|
Won |
Best Foreign Film
|
1988 |
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
|
Won |
Best Cinematography
|
1987 |
|
Won |
Best Foreign Film
|
1987 |
New York Film Critics Circle
|
Won |
Best Cinematography
|
1988 |
São Paulo International Film Festival
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