The American Friend

Wim Wenders pays loving homage to rough-and-tumble Hollywood film noir with The American Friend, a loose adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel Ripley’s Game. Dennis Hopper oozes quirky menace as an amoral American art dealer who entangles a terminally ill German everyman, played by Bruno Ganz, in a seedy criminal underworld as revenge for a personal slight—but when the two become embroiled in an ever-deepening murder plot, they form an unlikely bond. Filmed on location in Hamburg and Paris, with some scenes shot in grimy, late-seventies New York City, Wenders’s international breakout is a stripped-down crime story that mixes West German and American film flavors, and it features cameos by filmmakers Jean Eustache, Samuel Fuller, and Nicholas Ray.

To celebrate the twelfth anniversary of Kino Bizes, we invite you to discover five films by Wim Wenders – journeys become metaphors for existential quests, while human longings and dreams take visual form. The retrospective begins with "Alice in the Cities", a quiet, melancholic tale of the search for belonging, followed by "Kings of the Road" and "The American Friend", in which Wenders explores friendship, betrayal and the passage of time. While the angels in "Wings of Desire" observe the life and beauty of Berlin, the director's most recognisable work, "Paris, Texas", reveals a longing for intimacy. Introductions, quizzes and short lectures will accompany the special screenings.

The retrospective is presented in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Riga.