As Saatolog editors, we have compiled five (+1) travel films that have been on The Guardian’s list in the past years and will take you new roads trip.
Kings of the Road, Wim Wenders
Kings of the Road is the third part of Wenders’ “Road Movie trilogy” and the best of this trilogy according to many film lovers. The movie is about a projection-equipment repair mechanic 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. This introverted duo, who speaks little over long distances, begins to question themselves, women and life and try to make sense of it. The other theme on the go this inner journey of the duo is the corruption in the German cinema industry after the Second World War. The still images of small towns we see throughout the film are harmonized by Wenders’ original music and poetic narration.
Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman
Wild Strawberries tells the story of existential problems through a travel film. Isak Borg is a 78-years-old professor who devoted his years to the science of bacteria, sets off from Stockholm to Lund for the honorary degree that he will receiver from Lund University, which he graduated, but during the trip professor is forced by nightmares and daydreams. These nightmares come from the troubled past of the Borg, who realizes that he is now in his declining years. The 1957 film has become one of the masterpieces of director Ingmar Bergman. Let us end this paragraph with words from the movie: “If I have been feeling worried or sad during the day, I have habit of recalling scenes from my childhood.”
The Straight Story, David Lynch
Alvin Straight, who lives in a small town with his daughter… The trip story this old men begins when he learnt that his brother, he has not spoken for thirteen years, had a heart attack. Although he unable to drive, longing to visit his brother, he gets on a lawnmower and road to a trip of miles. The movie should be one of those rare travel films which has a travel story with a lawnmower. Well, we are not surprised an extraordinary travel story with a lawnmower in a movie which directed by David Lynch.
Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott
This time, we road to a trip with a car as usual, but towards a feminist journey. Thelma & Louise (1991) is about the journey of two young women through a free weekend. This freedom journey of Thelma, who is bored with her boyfriend and Louise, who is married with a sexist man, evolves into a story where there are crowded chases on dusty roads with unexpected developments. The movie is one of the cult productions of the 90s, whilst leading the way in the genre of feminist road films.
Sightseers, Ben Wheatley
The horror comedy movie tells the story of a murderous couple travelling across The Lakes with their caravans. The holiday starts off well for this passionate and loving couple Chris and Tina, but things change when their RV neighbors disturb them. If you have not yet watched the movie, let us give a spoiler, the corpses are flying in the air in this horror comedy. “For me, the concepts of comedy and horror are interrelated. What we called as comedy is having fun over the misfortunes and uncomfortable situations that someone else experience. On the other hand, the horror is a genre that a little beyond it. In a word, the horror is “extreme” form of comedy,” says Ben Wheatly, director of movie.
As a bonus a Turkish movie:
Limonata (Lemonade), Ali Atay
Limonata is a Turkish comedy directed by Ali Atay. The movie tells the story of Sakip who goes in search of his half-brother Selim, whom he had not known existed until Sakip’s father, Suat, at his death bed, asks Sakip to go and get him. He drives from Macedonia to Istanbul, then after many adventures searching for Selim, eventually succeeds in finding him. Then there is the attempt to convince Selim to go and see his long-lost father before he dies, how he finally ends up in the car, and the long drive back from Istanbul, through Turkey and Bulgaria to Macedonia. On the one hand, the movie is about the ties and cultural relations of the Rumelian Turks living on the borders of Macedonia with Turkey. The Rumelian accent of Ertan Saban, who plays Sakip and is originally a Macedonian immigrant, makes us feel that we take a road to the Balkans. One of the names that reinforced the Balkan atmosphere of the film was the successful acting of Luran Ahmedi, who passed away at a young age in the past months.
