A quiet, slow, somber reflection on fatherhood, sacrifice, and regret. This is not an action-packed movie by any means, instead preferring to take its time getting to the heart of its characters, peeling back layers one by one to expose the truths beneath.

I watched this movie when I was 12, and brushed it off as a boring 80’s film that didn’t hold my interest. I came back to it 30 years later it at 42, older now, middle aged with more life experience and knowledge of how the world works, and looked at it completely differently.

Everybody in this film carries their weight and then some. Hunter Carson, all of 8 here, is a masterclass in child acting, his boyish innocence and vulnerability leaping off the screen. Harry Dean Stanton (RIP) is excellent; there’s a mystery to him as he wanders out of the desert. You can almost see the pain and regret etched into the lines of his face, and he gives off the air of a grizzled, lost man who has seen and experienced things that have shaken him and caused him to withdraw from the world. The scenes between them, father and son, really are the highlight of the film. Kinski - although her accent slips at times, and despite her shorter screen time - is mesmerizing. The final scene seems to stretch forever, laying it all on the table with devastating honesty.

This movie is alive with the feel of the American south. Ry Cooder’s soundtrack - largely sparse and minimal - echoes over vast spaces, empty landscapes and dusty towns, every scene seemingly washed out and baked by harsh sun. There’s so much visual _space_ in this movie; even Houston, with its skyscrapers and glass, feels like a city out of place, looming out of the dryness. You can almost feel the heat in the air, the loneliness - but amidst it all there’s a nostalgic warmth and a gentleness to it all that shines through. These days, I can never look at old super 8 footage again without thinking of one scene in particular.

This movie, even in 2024, is timeless. The world might have changed since 1984, but these characters and their stories are universal.