1. Clip
One of my most memorable shots:
He cuts Jonathan in Paris to Ripley in New York; cuts Ripley on the plane to Hamburg to Jonathan on the train to Hamburg, and then Jonathan walks in Hamburg at dawn River shot. The scenes in Hamburg and New York are all on the road by the river.
In Paris, Wenders used a scene called "Little Manhattan," where a replica of the Statue of Liberty was erected on the banks of the Seine. A shot of an urban scene is edited as follows:
1. A panning shot of Paris' "Little Manhattan"
2. Overhead shot from the Jonathan Hotel room.
3. Shot of the phone ringing at Jonathan's home in Hamburg
4. The real silhouette of Manhattan buildings (taken from Brooklyn
5. Dewa's Warehouse Home (Manhattan) scene.
6. Jonathan's hotel room in Paris, the phone is ringing.
7. Mino is standing on the balcony of his Paris apartment, answering the phone.
8. The second panning shot of the Paris cityscape from the Jonathan Hotel room, with the tiny figure of Mino waving on the balcony
9. Jonathan hangs up
10. Jonathan Hotel Elevator Closeup
11. A close-up of a forged medical report in Jonathan's hands, followed by a scene from Minor's apartment. When Jonathan closed the report, the Statue of Liberty on the banks of the Seine became visible.
I'm really convinced after watching it in one go
The use of color
Like editing, the use of color in film has a shocking and disturbing effect. When Jonathan walked out of the subway station after the first murder, the whole city was engulfed in a burning red-orange color. When he left Paris later, the sky was purple. The Port of Hamburg is sometimes orange, sometimes purple.
To achieve these flamboyant effects, the lens is unfiltered and uncorrected for neon colors, the intense colors depicting the conflict between Jonathan's peaceful life and the underworld. Jonathan's apartments and studios are dark and natural, with a "Rembrandt brown" effect due to the decor and lighting. Conversely, the colors of underworld characters are red and orange. Jonathan's hotel room in Paris is decorated in red and orange, and there are orange construction cranes that appear to be eyeing out the window. The red color of Ripley's bedroom is startling, the silk sheets and curtains are all red. The most dramatic moment in the relationship between red and blood is when Sam Fuller's character falls to his death on the harbour steps, his blood glowing with the red light on the riverside road.
Green is also associated with Ripley. The green pinball table, illuminated by the CanadaDry billboard above, glows green. One time we saw him eating breakfast at the marble table, another time taking a photo of himself with a Polaroid. Later, when he was talking to Jonathan on the phone, he was bathed in green light. The color, often associated with illness and "little men from Mars," also underscores Ripley's weirdness.
3. Soundtrack
As a thriller, it's more contemplative than suspenseful, but Wenders often creates tension through completely formal techniques such as sound and color. The soundtrack uses dissonant chords to convey a sense of horror, creating tension when the story doesn't work.
At times, animal voices add tension and correlate with Jonathan's darker emotions. In one scene, he steps out of the small balcony of his son's room and waves goodbye to Daniel and Marianne. He watched them go away, lost in thought, angry and frightened by the fake telegram he had received the day before. The chirping of the waterfowl hovering over him suddenly became very loud and harsh on the vocal cords. He turns and stumbles back to the bedroom, tripping over Daniel's toy tram, when his inner monologue comes. In the background, the harbour machinery thumps like Jonathan's heartbeat. The scene where Jonathan smashes the frame in the studio, and the scene where Ripley comes down the alley to find him is cross-cut. In the alley, the dog barked fiercely, and the sound of Jonathan smashing the picture frame overlapped with the barking of the dog.
Master's work.
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