Lightning over Water

A surprising hybrid between documentary and fiction, a cinephile’s manifesto, and one of Wim Wenders most remarkable works. The director himself is an important protagonist of the movie: overwhelmed by a creative crisis and problems arising on the set of Hammett, he escapes to New York. There he meets his American friend, Nicholas Ray. The director of Rebel without a Cause is suffering from terminal cancer, but he decides to challenge death and make his last film. Wenders does all he can to help his older colleague, knowing that at any given moment reality can abruptly verify their plans. Despite its theme Lightning over Water is no pathetic elegy. Aversion to pathos, which connects Wenders and Ray, manifests itself in the movie’s form which combines images shot on film with blurry shots recorded with a video camera.

Piotr Czerkawski