Kings of the Road
| Kings of the Road | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Wim Wenders |
| Written by | Wim Wenders |
| Starring |
Rüdiger Vogler Hanns Zischler |
| Cinematography | Robby Müller |
| Edited by | Peter Przygodda |
| Distributed by | Axiom Films (UK and Ireland) |
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Release date
|
1976 |
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Running time
|
175 minutes |
| Country | West Germany |
| Language | German |
Kings of the Road (German: Im Lauf der Zeit) is a 1976 German road movie directed by Wim Wenders. It was the third part of Wenders' "Road Movie trilogy" which included Alice in the Cities (1974) and The Wrong Move (1975). It was the unanimous winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival.
The film is about a projection-equipment repair mechanic named Bruno Winter (Rüdiger Vogler), who meets the depressed Robert Lander (Hanns Zischler), who has just been through a break-up with his wife, after he drives his car into a river in a half-hearted suicide attempt. Bruno allows Robert to ride with him while his clothes dry, rarely speaking while Bruno drives along the Western side of the East German border in a repair truck, visiting worn-out movie theaters.
While out on the road, Bruno and Robert encounter several people in various states of despair, including a man whose wife has committed suicide by driving her car into a tree. Robert also drops in on his elderly father to berate him for disrespecting Robert's mother. After Bruno and Robert have a minor brawl after a conversation about Robert and his wife, Robert finally leaves Bruno, though Bruno later spots him riding a train. Bruno continues his visits to theatres, including one that no longer screens films because the owner regards modern films as exploitative.
The film contains many long shots without dialogue, including an outdoor defecation scene, and it was filmed in black and white by long-time Wenders collaborator Robby Müller.
Kings of the Road was shot in black and white, wide-screen format, which is explicitly mentioned in the titles. Only the first scene of the film where Winter and Lander meet was scripted; everything else was improvised by the actors. Wim Wenders shot 49,000 meters of film and the final cut was 4,760 meters. The camera used was an ARRI 35 BL. The negative material from Kodak (Plus-X and Four-X) copied to Orwo positive.
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