L'état des choses

From the first time I saw it, this film resonated strongly on two levels; first, it is an excellent example of Wenders at his best: an almost dreamy progression of exactingly composed images, mysterious characters, a "story" which comes as close as film can to "truth", and for the cineastes in the audience, a complex dialogue with films of the past. But my second reason for loving this film is far more personal. As a teenager growing up in Hollywood during the early 1980s, I knew nothing about Wim Wenders or film history, but friends guided me to this film because of the soundtrack and the images at the end, inside an RV wandering aimlessly in Hollywood. This is, as far as I know, the first film to use either X or Joe Ely in the soundtrack. It also captures a lost city with amazing precision; almost every shot at the end contains some nostalgic element, from Tiny Naylor's drive-in to the Parisian Room, from Schwab's Pharmacy to the white smog in Laurel Canyon. This is a great film, but for Los Angelenos of my generation, it's a treasure-trove.

I saw this film when I was in mid-20s in 1982. I viewed this film with Stanley Brock in Santa Monica, California. Stanley Brock was in the Actors Studio with one of the actors from "State of Things" - Allen Garfield. I have not seen the film again, but if I see it in the video store, I will rent it.

The eerie black and white photography of the Portugal coastline creates the loneliness of the actors. I love that image of the coastline even 20 years later.

I do remember Allen Garfield and Paul Getty in this film.

Please see this film if you have the chance.

This film was shot by Wenders while he was waiting for Coppola to get the financing to complete Hammett and his frustrations with that experience are clearly expressed here. It is a very personal film and, as such, I think one of his best. The end sequence in LA is classic. Shot in beautiful black and white, this is really a must see for any fan of the 'art film' in general and of Wenders' work in particular.

Time has passed since i watched this wonderful movie, and it remains in my mind like those dreams you remember for ever although had lasted ten, twenty, thirty years, like a child's dream. In effect ever i though this film was made as Wenders wanted to built an feverish dream, the American night, in a gorgeous black and white, the scene the crew is filming with that children dying and screaming like an hurt animal, and the self image that Friederich receive in an old printer from the screenwriter. Do you remember those old movies of 60's made in the Nuevo Mexico desert? Those movies made in a high percentage in a false night that you could feel the heath of a warm wind?. Longer, the best Wenders'film.

The thing about a film like "The State of Things", much like Wenders' earlier film "The Wrong Movement", is how too much introspection can really start to drag one down over time. Both pictures have the unfortunate distinction of talking themselves to death. This is not a film that gives you insight into life so much as insight into its specific characters. The value of this tends to decrease in the face of the fact that we never really get to know the characters in the first place. So this story seems to play like an ever-extending observation into enigmas, where each answer is really a question, like the cinematic equivalent of the "Jeopardy!" game show.

There are moments of true beauty, there's no denying that. But the beauty comes in the cinematography, the silences - not in the dialogue. The multiple cinematographers create a nice feel together, a fantastic series of images. "The State of Things" is almost always worth looking at, just not always engaging to fully experience. The ending is somewhat of a curiosity. Neither particularly disastrous nor completely convincing. It feels more like an artistic statement. And not one of great depth or meaning, either.