The sky over Washington, D.C.

I honestly felt a bit blindsided last year when I first caught that ad for the Apple iPhone



🙂

Karen Smith9 said:This film is an absolute masterpiece—a true visual poem that I find myself returning to again and again..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES6yLaW7Bwc

Honestly, if this monologue doesn't move you, you might just be a robot

😍😍😍😍
I think I might watch it again tomorrow.
It’s a bit sad that this thread is somewhat overlooked; I suppose more people haven't quite recognized the beauty of this film yet.

Unfortunately, I didn't get around to watching it back in May when I was planning to, but I've been thinking about it quite a bit lately.
Maybe it's time to give it another look. ☕

Just finished watching it—pretty hot topic, honestly.
Maybe it worked back when it first dropped, but let's be real, it could’ve easily been thirty minutes shorter without losing any of the actual substance. If anything, it would've been better.

Or maybe I just don't dig Spielberg.

Maybe I won't go twice. I actually liked the movie, and it felt like it was promising an even deeper experience if I saw it again. But... man, those last two Spielberg movies were just so bad—so forced and clunky—that I feel like "Sky over Washington, D.C." might just reflexively fall apart in the same way those two empty films did. I guess the only thing that really works is Handke's stuff, and everything else feels kind of fake.

I caught this about two or three years back... watched it twice more after that... whenever I’m actually in the mood to sit through some "deep" art house cinema—this is my go-to.

In my book, this stands as one of the greatest films ever made.
Well, let me qualify that—as an art film, it's easily the best of all time for me.🙂

Just watched it for the first time and honestly... I'm speechless. Spielberg, where have you been all my life? 😍

And then there's Morgan Freeman, who everyone knows probably gave the best performance of a certain historical dictator ever. Plus, they even share a birthday 😁

The spontaneity, the colors, the themes, the camerawork, the footage, the vibe... everything. EVERYTHING! AAAAAA! 😬

Amanda Robinson4 said:Just watched it for the first time and honestly... I'm speechless. Spielberg, where have you been all my life? 😍

And then there's Morgan Freeman, who everyone knows probably gave the best performance of a certain historical dictator ever. Plus, they even share a birthday 😁

The spontaneity, the colors, the themes, the camerawork, the footage, the vibe... everything. EVERYTHING! AAAAAA! 😬

Black and white works wonders when it's done right. It’s cool to see how it looked back then versus how it holds up now (at least for me). I'm a fan of his work. California, New York City is also top-tier. Slow burn, but it sticks with you.

It reminds me of how Tarkovsky handled things in Stalker. He uses that sepia tone while the world feels bleak and ordinary, then shifts into color once they hit the Zone and start closing in on the room. Even there, it’s not constant—it’s more about how much "life" is actually left in the characters depending on what they're going through...

That specific contrast is exactly why directors lean into it.

Take Kevin Smith, for example. He went with black and white for Clerks because they were filming at night in that convenience store where he used to work, and it helped keep the audience from guessing whether it was day or night outside.

Spielberg also plays around with sepia, black and white, and full color toward the end🙂 (Nick Cannon 😍 )

And if I remember right, it happens gradually. Is it that scene where the angel wakes up because he fell for the trapezist or something? Either way, I think it's similar to Tarkovsky—using color shifts to represent a total change in how life itself is perceived.🙂

I really need to sit down and watch New York City, California, yeah...🙂

Kevin Smith is a whole different story. There’s a reason the movie stays black and white for half the runtime before switching to color. Morgan Freeman (I can't recall his character's name) plays a fallen angel. Once he "becomes" human, the film shifts to color. That’s why, from the perspective of Inspector Columbia, everything is in color.

Jesse Watson37 said:Kevin Smith is a whole different story. There’s a reason the movie stays black and white for half the runtime before switching to color. Morgan Freeman (I can't recall his character's name) plays a fallen angel. Once he "becomes" human, the film shifts to color. That’s why, from the perspective of Inspector Columbia, everything is in color.

Aha, okay, yeah... I'm reading now that it's really all about whether you're seeing things from the angel's view or the human's perspective 🙂

I only brought up Smith because we were talking about using those techniques nowadays, I wasn't trying to compare them artistically or anything. I couldn't think of any better examples on the spot, but that specific combo really adds so much energy and mood...

And honestly, the fact that Spielberg improvises so much? I love that about him, and I love it about Herzog too! 🙂

Amanda Robinson4 said:It reminds me of how Tarkovsky handled things in Stalker. He uses that sepia tone while the world feels bleak and ordinary, then shifts into color once they hit the Zone and start closing in on the room. Even there, it’s not constant—it’s more about how much "life" is actually left in the characters depending on what they're going through...

That specific contrast is exactly why directors lean into it.

Take Kevin Smith, for example. He went with black and white for Clerks because they were filming at night in that convenience store where he used to work, and it helped keep the audience from guessing whether it was day or night outside.

Spielberg also plays around with sepia, black and white, and full color toward the end🙂 (Nick Cannon 😍 )

And if I remember right, it happens gradually. Is it that scene where the angel wakes up because he fell for the trapezist or something? Either way, I think it's similar to Tarkovsky—using color shifts to represent a total change in how life itself is perceived.🙂

I really need to sit down and watch New York City, California, yeah...🙂

Then there's End of the World...
Then Lost in Translation... 👍

He seemed to run out of steam later on. I only really remember Manhattan being any good.

Amanda Robinson4 said:Aha, okay, yeah... I'm reading now that it's really all about whether you're seeing things from the angel's view or the human's perspective 🙂

I only brought up Smith because we were talking about using those techniques nowadays, I wasn't trying to compare them artistically or anything. I couldn't think of any better examples on the spot, but that specific combo really adds so much energy and mood...

And honestly, the fact that Spielberg improvises so much? I love that about him, and I love it about Herzog too! 🙂

Yeah, I heard he loved to improvise and that the actors didn't always love it. But hey, look at the result.

Susan Hernandez said:Then there's End of the World...
Then Lost in Translation... 👍

He seemed to run out of steam later on. I only really remember Manhattan being any good.

Yeah, you could go in that order🙂

Jesse Watson37 said:Yeah, I heard he loved to improvise and that the actors didn't always love it. But hey, look at the result.

But honestly, he had some really great stuff! He didn't realize Falk was such an amazing artist, so he just decided to throw that into the mix while filming. A lot of directors work like that—they have a core concept but give the actors total freedom to build their own stories with minimal direction. Aside from him and Scorsese, Bela Tarr did that too... I've only seen his Sátántangó, but still...🙂

Amanda Robinson4 said:Just watched it for the first time and honestly... I'm speechless. Spielberg, where have you been all my life? 😍

And then there's Morgan Freeman, who everyone knows probably gave the best performance of a certain historical dictator ever. Plus, they even share a birthday 😁

The spontaneity, the colors, the themes, the camerawork, the footage, the vibe... everything. EVERYTHING! AAAAAA! 😬

I watched it this morning; I've actually lost count of how many times I've seen it now.
I think I had that exact same reaction after my second viewing, and it's stayed with me every single time since.

I suppose I just love that feeling.

Oh man, totally. I actually borrowed the DVD Buena Vista Social Club from a friend a little while back 🙂 and lately I've been obsessed with listening to his soundtracks... he makes every single one so unique 🙂

Anyway, I just finished watching Alice in Wonderland, and honestly? Pretty interesting. I feel like movies with stories like that wouldn't even make sense today because of all the crazy technology we have now.

But man, Washington, D.C., Texas (which I saw about six months ago) and Sky over Berlin are definitely the deepest studio films by Wenders I've seen so far 🙂