Wim Wenders follows Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto as he puts together a fashion show. In truth, the subject matter is tedious, Yohji Yamamoto has little of interest to say, and he says it excruciatingly slowly. Wenders tries his best to convince us that the designer is a great Artist, by covering the creative process, the little changes in the cut of the cloth to achieve what is the perfect shirt or dress. The close-knit coterie of disciples eager to translate the Artist's vision to the cloth. It's almost convincing, but the film fails to persuade me that fashion industry is anything more than superficial. By implying that fashion design is potentially as profound and mysterious as other arguably more 'worthy' art-forms (such as cinema), the documentary teeters on pretension.
However, the film is certainly worth watching. There are some interesting meditations on the nature of cities and identity (it's filmed in both Tokyo and Paris). It's most impressive aspect is the exploration of digital video technology (quite appropriate given the documentary subject matter). When filmed (1989), this would have been cutting edge, and it's likely that Wenders experiments here benefited subsequent films most notably the dream sequences in Until The End of the World. The pixelated texture and more lurid colour palette of video contrast nicely with the celluloid sequences, and there are some effective (albeit now primitive) sequences with talking-heads video playback against celluloid footage in the background. The overall effect is meditative and other-worldly.
In summary, a flawed, dated but still interesting film.
However, the film is certainly worth watching. There are some interesting meditations on the nature of cities and identity (it's filmed in both Tokyo and Paris). It's most impressive aspect is the exploration of digital video technology (quite appropriate given the documentary subject matter). When filmed (1989), this would have been cutting edge, and it's likely that Wenders experiments here benefited subsequent films most notably the dream sequences in Until The End of the World. The pixelated texture and more lurid colour palette of video contrast nicely with the celluloid sequences, and there are some effective (albeit now primitive) sequences with talking-heads video playback against celluloid footage in the background. The overall effect is meditative and other-worldly.
In summary, a flawed, dated but still interesting film.