Did anyone else notice that Jonathan had a liking for optical toys?
Jonathan gives Tom Ripley a moving picture, and in return Tom gives Jonathan a mini slide show. His son plays with a zoetrope, and has a bedside lamp with a picture of a train with a drum inside that makes it look as if the train is moving. Joanathan is seen looking through a stereoscope. And he has a "What the Butler Saw" machine.
Has Wim Wenders got a similar passion for optical toys?
In Kings of the Road, the main character, a projectionist, gets a piece of film and puts it through the projector in a continuous loop.
And the two characters do some shadow play for the children, which is another optical illusion.
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I was reminded of Antonioni's Red Desert. Both films have houses on the waterfront in which the protagonists watch boats from their window. Red Desert has robotic toys, while The American Friend has optical toys, a gyroscope and various instruments used as toys. Like Red Desert, Wenders also uses extreme colouration, such as green lighting, a red sky, etc.
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