The “intense” movie that opened Gael García Bernal’s eyes to the power of cinema
Gael García Bernal is one of the most underrated actors working today, who has never failed to make his characters feel believable, as his passion for films comes from his desire to tell stories that audiences can relate to.
While he isn’t always compared to other living legends like Leonardo DiCaprio or Daniel Day-Lewis, he should for, despite his relative youth, Bernal has a pretty unassailable track record when it comes to making instant classics, and has been working in the industry for nearly all of the 21st century.
With his breakthrough performance in Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece Y tu mamá también and his transformative role in Pedro Almodóvar’s twisty erotic thriller Bad Education, the actor proved just how versatile he could be, but what’s most impressive about his acting style is that he can find something truthful within characters that wouldn’t have otherwise seemed relatable or appeared too outlandish for any nuance.
In Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation of the television film Werewolf by Night, Bernal was able to develop a flawed, nuanced performance of a lonely drifter who just so happened to be a werewolf; similarly, he was able to find something legitimately haunting and sad with his role in M Night Shyamalan’s ambitious horror film Old, which was otherwise torn apart by critics.
As is the case with many of the most prominent actors and filmmakers working today, Bernal’s interest in cinema as an art form was inspired by an influential experience watching a classic when he was younger. Although he told Rotten Tomatoes that Dumbo was a film that had a big impact on him as a child, he wasn’t exposed to the full possibilities of the medium until he watched Wim Wenders’ masterpiece Paris, Texas.
“It was one of the most intense ways of getting into the adult world, and I saw it when I was really young,” he said, “I couldn’t believe that there were stories that were so close to reality. It felt like that, it felt very real.”
“Intense” isn’t a word that would typically be used to describe Paris, Texas, which is one of the most patient and observational films of its time, but it’s easy to see why the experience was overwhelming for him when he was young, as Wenders had managed to capture a slice-of-life that hit close to home for anyone who had ever struggled to get out of a funk or felt like they had failed in their relationship. If Bernal had mostly seen cartoons like Dumbo before, seeing something as grounded and emotionally authentic as Paris, Texas would be a pretty bold example of what all great cinema could do.
Naturally, he is not the only member of the film industry who was blown away by Paris, Texas, as Wenders’ film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and received glowing reviews, slowly building a cult following after a lukewarm audience response during release, to now being widely considered to be one of the best films ever made by a mass of people.
Bernal may not have gotten the chance to work with Wenders, who is still active in the industry, but he has made several films that feel inspired by Paris, Texas, having directed the feature Chicuarotes, a grounded, realistic film about growing up in Mexico that captured the same naturalistic beauty that the veteran director did with his film.
