MovieChat Forums > Don't Come Knocking (2005) Discussion > Wim makes the best director commentaries

Wim makes the best director commentaries


I think this DVD has one of the best director commentaries I've ever heard. Unlike a lot of commentaries where the director just mumbles a few words every few minues, Wim packed this full of informative & entertaining tidbits. And even though he gets technical sometimes, he makes it easy to understand. He never sounds arrogant or condescending.

Another great director for commentaries is Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children, Amelie, etc) who's just a really entertaining guy. It's great when directors care about their work & their audiences. Of course the best director commentary EVER is on "Spinal Tap". Hilarious!

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I've heard this about Wenders. Something about his voice. A storyteller's voice I guess. I enjoyed the "Wings of Desire" commentary very much.

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Wings of desire was a great commentary, too. He talks to us like he's a normal guy, our next door neighbour (not an international celebrity). In Wings of Desire he even encourages us to edit our own alternate scenes and send it to him. And I agree, he has the best voice for the job.

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And if I remember correctly Peter Falk was on that commentary which is of course an added bonus.

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Werner Herzog makes the best audio commentaries but Wenders isn't bad either. ;-)

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And even though he gets technical sometimes, he makes it easy to understand. He never sounds arrogant or condescending.

As someone who loves to learn about photographic techniques in movies, I remember Wim's description [on DVD special feature] of filming that greenish 1954 Packard on the highway. Wim says he employed [I think the name is] a reverse inverse zoom: The cameraman in a car directly in front of Shepard, while filming Shepard's car, speeds up and away from Shepard, while at the same time zooming the camera lens in on Shepard to magnify the Packard. That creates in us a sudden visual change in the relationship of the Packard with the Western sky.

Wim then casually said he learned that method from Alfred Hitchcock.

I think that that type of zoom was also used in the diner scene in Goodfellas.

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Yes, I remember that! I had seen that "Hitchcock technique" before and for years wondered how it was done. I think the first time I saw it was in "Poltergeist". When Wim explained it I was thrilled, so easy to do but such a memorable effect.

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