American Friend (6.5/10)

Wim Wenders (1977)
The combination of Wim Wenders, Bruno Ganz, and Dennis Hopper is at least a promising recipe for a great film, but ultimately falls short. Not surprisingly, Dennis Hopper is impressive as a sociopath art dealer who specializes in selling counterfeit paintings and Wenders style is on point, but the storey is weak bringing down the overall quality of the film. I also found Wenders aesthetic although beautiful, to be somewhat contrived and unnatural giving the film a slightly pretentious quality. The cinematography was not nearly as refined as his later films such as Paris Texas (8.0/10) or Wings of Desire (7.6/10). I suspect that American Friend was a film that allowed Wenders to build and develop his aesthetic which he ultimately perfects in the masterpieces mentioned above.

His madness is truly believable.

Hoppers performance was strong, because like always his insanity is believable. Playing his quintessential trademarked character of morally inept psychopath, one can not tell if he is acting or simply being himself; the best actor is the one who does not act. His madness, albeit not as believable as in Blue Velvet (8.3/10) or Apocalypse Now (8.6/10), is the only viable reason to watch the film.