THE GOALIE'S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK  1972
Directed by Wim Wenders
103 minutes
In German with English subtitles

This was officially the second feature by Wim Wenders, and already he is zeroing in on the themes that made his early bleak existential road movies famous - along with the brilliant camerawork of Robby Muller, and a script written together with Peter Handke (Der Himmel über Berlin/Wings Of Desire). Don't expect the cozy eye-candy Wenders is churning out today - this is more abstract and challenging, more European. It comes from a time when a new breed of German filmmakers were kicking against conventions, breaking cinema open, and looking for something different.

The story follows a football goal-keeper who, after a disastrous game, catches a tram and drifts through the city. The film that follows is a bit like Albert Camus' The Stranger in its theme... and in the end it is a meditative noir about German youth living in the shadows (and emotional wreckage) of World War II. In this void we see Germany (like the rest of Europe) become engulfed by American culture - especially American music and movies. Amid this take-over, this externally imposed abandoning of European culture, Wenders charts his characters as they wander aimlessly, grasping at straws, desperately trying to believe in the American dream. I hate to say it, but it's a pretty accurate portrayal of Europe today. The conversations in this flick are often dreamlike and bizarre, reflecting a world gone haywire.

This movie was tied up in legal rights problems for over three decades, which made it almost impossible to see. In the end some of the music on the soundtrack had to be removed and replaced by the director when he recently restored this film... and it still stays a movie that is far more fresh, acute and insightful than anything he makes today. It has a poetic cold-bloodedness about it.

This will be a high-definition screening.