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This ode to regret and lost love is original and thought-provoking. The film begins with Travis (Harry Dean Stanton, PRETTY IN PINK), dressed in a dirty suit and red baseball cap, walking along in the middle of desert. He enters a café and passes out from lack of water. A German doctor takes him in and locates Travis’ brother Walt (Dean Stockwell, TV’s QUANTUM LEAP), who comes from L.A. to Texas to pick him up.

At first we’re unsure if Travis even remembers anything and we learn that he’s been missing for four years. Walt and his French wife Anne (Aurore Clement, BON VOYAGE) have been taking care of Travis’ son Hunter (Hunter Carson, MR. NORTH), since Travis’ wife, Jane (Nastassja Kinski, THE CLAIM), dropped him off soon after Travis disappeared. Now Jane has gone missing.

The film patiently watches as Travis slowly readjusts to living with other people. He’s not necessarily crazy, but jittery like a wild, yet docile, animal in an unfamiliar environment. The way the story plays out one is uncertain where it’s going and you can expect anything.

It’s quite touching to see Travis coming around to the idea of being a dad again and then watching Hunter get accustomed to having two fathers. Stanton brings true, understated power to his performance. His transition from wandering nomad to determined father and husband is unforced. Stockwell and Clement create complex characterizations of two parents struggling with the idea of losing the child they know as their son to the child’s biological parent.

In the end, Travis goes looking for Jane in an attempt to set things right in his own mind. Kinski is remarkable in only a few scenes. The driving force of the narrative is the well timed revelations of details about Travis’ life and why he went wondering in the desert for so many years. The story in some ways reminds me of the struggle John Wayne’s character had in THE SEARCHERS, but with less resentment and more guilt.

Director Wim Wenders (WINGS OF DESIRE) is in love with the mythology of the American West and infuses it into this modern tale in a very haunting way as if the legacy of the myth hangs over Travis. Making the film even more daring is its freedom to allow characters to make decisions that may not be the best, but still come from good intentions. It’s those good intentions and the open-endedness of the finale that allows us to still deeply care about Travis, Hunter and Jane even if we do not agree with the decisions being made.

The cinematography is wonderful in how it is able to achieve a consistent look and feel when in the desert or the city. Written by actor/playwright Sam Shepard, the dialogue takes on an overheard quality and doesn’t go for grand affect, which suits the tone and material perfectly. Travis’ and Jane’s monologues at the end, which reveal their history in raw emotions, are magnificent and surprisingly tense even though they are filmed in long takes. One of the best road movies ever made — the film stays with you after it’s done and leaves you with feelings of both sadness and joy. Now that’s remarkable.