Product: The American Friend [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 4.0
Far From Friendly!
THE AMERICAN FRIEND is a clever film, but one that perhaps suffers from a being a little too smart for its own good. As an exploration of the cultural colonisation of Germany it is very effective, and WIM WENDERS fills the subtext of his film with a pessimistic tone that borders on paranoia, a redolent theme for a film of the 1970's. He depicts a featureless and grey Europe that is bending under the unbearable yolk of capitalism. A continent that has had its originality squeezed out of it by the duplicitous behaviour of people like Tom Ripley. A land of commerce and greed, rather than art. In fact art becomes the metaphorical device for the insidiousness of a consumer driven society, with both painting and the cinema acting as its agents. Of all European countries to feel the pinch of forced doctrines by the USA, Germany in the wake of WW2 is perhaps the most notable. A generation of film-makers grew up with an ambivalent attitude towards Hollywood. They were respectful of its efficiency, but resentful of its corrupt value system and sought to implement their own brand of national cinema. THE AMERICAN FRIEND and to a lesser degree Werner Herzog's STROSZEK are the most indicative examples of these complex tensions. Viewed today the film also becomes an intricate and enjoyable parody of film noir and the values that genre embodied. It's post-modern credentials are worn as a badge, in both Wenders choices of colour, and especially in the casting. As a deconstruction of both Hollywood's influence and the effects of forced capitalism THE AMERICAN FRIEND works tremendously well. Unfortunately the sophistication of its satirical elements, wring a great deal of the life out of the film, especially in terms of excitement and spectacle.