The first part of Wim Wenders' Road Movie Trilogy (before 'Wrong Move' and 'Kings of the Road'). By a strange twist of fate, reporter and photographer, Phil Winter (Wenders regular Rüdiger Vogler) finds himself stuck with a little girl, Alice, searching the cities of Germany for her grandmother, whose name and address Alice can't remember. The only clue they have is a photograph of her grandmother's front door with no house number and no one in the shot. The scenario of a young girl and a writer thrown together was inspired by his long time collaborator Peter Handke's experience as a single parent. The influence also of 'Short Letter, Long Farewell' Handke's 1972 novel, also featuring an alienated German-speaker travelling across the United States, can be inferred from the film's use of clips from John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln, itself heavily referenced in Handke's novel. ★★★★ "An intriguing movie that lives in the mind for hours after the lights have come up" - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian