Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

lukerisher Robby Muller is the Cinematographer for the 1976 movie "Kings Of The Road" Robby shows himself as a stylistic and unique film maker. This movie is not only in German, but otherwise very heavily based on emotional concept instead of a hard, concrete story line. The dialogue is a minimum, the shots tell the story, the theme are vague and abstract. At it's core the movie is looking at two characters, one is a projector repairman and the other a depressed man who recently divorced his wife. The two characters meet and travel together and form a relationship as one deal with depression and both simply live as humans. The elements of film and cinematography the Muller used were essential in making this story. In this film one of the most interesting things is the use of cinematic motifs. Similar shots and themes were repeated throughout the film. This created the effect of themes in the story being re enforced and portraying the same theme gave emotional significance to the moment. Because so much of the film is based on non dialogue or explicit story, but more based on emotional elements this way of using similar shots to link emotions to the views understanding of the story was extremely effective. For example one cinematic theme that Muller uses is a specific shot of the truck door with a shaving brush and shaving cream propped on it, when one of the characters opens the door the shaving setup falls. This shot is repeated several times throughout the film and in every scene it's used, it's used to show the characters starting a part of their journey. It's used when they first meet, used when one leave, used when they meet a different character. It's significance is clear as a gateway shot and the view understands this and associates this shots with a new leg of the story. The recurring shots help develop the viewers association build the story which is essential because the story is hard to grasp for the most part. One of the most unique characteristics of the film is the choice to make it black and white. The film was stylized with this black and white effect and also how this black and white effect affected the shadows and other lighting elements as well. The use reinforced the films overall themes of dealing with human depression. The black and white was a cleaner way to expose the humanness of the story. The lack of color was more effective for telling this story dealing with depression. The side effect of the black and white was that it created higher contrast and deeper shadows which made the overall scene more depressing in part. Similarly much of the film was shot at darker times of the day and night. The lighting was either natural or low lit industrial areas. When inside the scene most likely had a signal lamp or light on and the characters were partially lit. When outside the scene was mostly sunlit and the shot was wide, this was used to invoke a different theme of the largeness of the world in contrast with the minuscule characters. The lighting in the film matched the themes and message of the film overall. Through camera work Muller used a collection of three or four shot throughout the majority of the movie. These include a moving medium shot of the character, widescreen full shot of the landscape (especially including the truck), and a close up static shot of a character's face. These shots are recurring and the way they are used and inter-layer shows a lot about the themes of the movie. In a film dealing with human existence and a mixture of human depression and hope the use of the wide shots and the close ups create the big picture view contrasted with intimate human realities. The moving shots show the environment around them. For example because of the lack of dialogue and story line one of the most character developing moments in the film is the projector repairman buying a hot dog and coke and walking back to the van. In the shot choices we see the extreme view of the world, intimate view of the individuals, and the moving shots of how they interact with the world. These shots basically narrate the story more than any other element. Overall the film is very interesting. The film is stripped of many things such as color, dialogue, and an action packed story line, as a result, the cinematography shows through clearly and noticeably. The majority of the storytelling is told through cinematographic elements and Robby Muller utilizes them well to tell a fairly abstract story.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This is already the second time I watched Wim Wenders' "Im Lauf der Zeit" or "Kings of the Road" and even if I did not hate it as much as I did during the first watch, I still find it really underwhelming and nowhere near Wenders' best. I like "Wings of Desire" and "Alice in the Cities" a lot more. This 40-year-old film (made in 1976) we have here is a film is a two-man show basically from start to finish and quite a challenge for lead actors Rüdiger Vogler and Hanns Zischler as the film runs for almost three hours. Wenders made color films before and after, but here he made the creative choice of returning to black-and-white. This is the story of a friendship between two men as they spend together a whole lot of time on the road. One of them, a mechanic who does lots of repair work in theaters, is played by Vogler, while the other (Zischler) is a man who just turned single again after the relationship with his wife ended. I did not care for these two as much as I hoped I would. I like Vogler as an actor most of the time, but here he gave off a really unlikable vibe on many occasions and this was a huge problem as it certainly was not intended. Vogler's character was not half as interesting as he should have been with his background. Admittedly, the short performance of Marquard Bohm stayed more memorable to me, even if Wenders' attempt to show things could be way worse about wife struggles feels pretty clumsy. Lisa Kreuzer has a very small role only and as she is third in the credits, it shows how much the film is really only about the two main characters. She also adds very little as a short-time love interest to Vogler's character. The struggles of the latter were also really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I personally enjoyed seeing Rudolf Schündler in here as I think he is by far the best thing about the Lümmel franchise, even if his character here is of course entirely different. As a whole, it is a film that is as slow as it gets and this is not necessarily a problem, can even be an advantage if the slowness still brings up interesting characters and elaborates profoundly on them. But I never developed interest in the duo here or even felt involved with their story and I do not think this is my fault, but the fault of writing characters that impossibly can carry this film, especially with this runtime. Still, with the whole atmosphere and setting of this road movie I am not surprised it received some awards attention, actually less than I expected. But I am very much surprised by this film's rating on IMDb as I think it is one of Wenders' weakest works from what I have seen so far and I don't think it has aged well at all. Also the parts about sexuality/masturbation add very little except cheap thrills. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

cloistermouse I haven't seen this film for ages, but it is one of the ones that have stuck in my mind. Saw it twice in the 1980's when it seemed to be a cult art-house favourite. I thought Kings of the Road was a good title but perhaps the German "Im Lauf der Zeit" is more poignant, illustrating a theme that Wenders explores in his auteurly way to devastating effect in "Paris Texas"."In the Course of Time". Does this mean that in the course of time all relationships tend to disintegrate, due to bad faith. The guy's just broken up with his partner. He starts a friendship after a chance encounter with the travelling projector repairer. It ends in a punch-up. What a tragic view of life.There were a few memorable and amusing scenes, such as when a self-abusing cinema projectionist is confronted."Wings of Desire" was "Der Himmel ueber Berlin" in German. Apparently Wenders gave some thought to how his titles appeared in different translations.

Kent Lee Every American who came of age before reunification of East/West Germany should see this film. It encapsulates a time; a frame of mind. Perhaps its most important feature however, is the way it uses sparse cinematography, and spaces, both literal and figurative, to illustrate the moral and spiritual conditions of the protagonists. There are few films which demonstrate such a mastery of the art of the visual in storytelling. For those interested in the place of film in the broader social context, I'm Lauf Der Zeit provides countless wry observations. At least as important as The Last Picture Show. I am waiting for the definitive authorized DVD with subtitles. By far my favorite Wim Wenders film.