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      Lightning Over Water

      Released Oct 27, 1981 1h 56m Documentary List
      67% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 70% Audience Score 500+ Ratings The last months in the life of Nicholas Ray as seen by fellow filmmaker Wim Wenders and various friends and family. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

      View All (9) Critics Reviews
      Time Out Even with its painful contradictions and discomfitures, it's that current rarity: one for the heart. Feb 9, 2006 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times Lightning Over Water is chaotic, emotionally and esthetically. Rated: 2/5 Oct 20, 2004 Full Review Jesús Fernández Santos El Pais (Spain) Nicholas Ray tackles the subject of death with the objectivity of those who confront it, without losing courage when everything is lost. [Full Review in Spanish] Aug 15, 2019 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It's a fitting heartfelt tribute to Ray. Rated: A- Apr 3, 2013 Full Review TV Guide A poignant and often painful film in which Wenders and the terminally ill Ray attempt to make a film together in the last days before Ray's death in 1979. Rated: 3/4 Oct 22, 2007 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Unquestionably the worst movie of Wim Wenders' career and indeed one of the worst movies ever made... Rated: 0/4 Dec 21, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (21) audience reviews
      william k Multi-faceted collaborative documentary is rich with cinematic details and insights, but is at times hard to watch due to Nicholas Ray's looming death. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review walter m "Lightning over Water" is an intriguing documentary/fiction hybrid that begins with a jetlagged Wim Wenders arriving in New York to help his friend and hero Nicholas Ray complete one last film before he succumbs to lung cancer which he is in the painful final stages of. So while those preparations are being made, occasionally a handheld Super 8 camera is used to show the film crew working behind the scenes. While digressive at times, especially one sequence involving rehearsals for a Chekhov play, "Lightning over Water" has some very good thoughts on the subject of mortality and how truly inescapable it is. Not only that but the movie is also concerned with the changes that go along with the passage of time like when Ray and his crew travel to Vassar, now co-ed, to screen one of his old films. Plus, we are also treated to a neat view of bygone New York City, circa 1979. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a wonderful companion piece to Bunuel's Las Hurdes. While this seems to be more chaotic, it is obviously scripted, and both are savage in questioning the ethics and aesthetics of documentary film-making. It makes a fitting end to Nicholas Ray's career. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Documentary of last days of directore Nicholas Ray. It is sort of collebrative effort so that the whole film crew is credited as film makers. Wim Wenders is very much in the film and it doesn't follow any certain form and this makes it fresh and it hits emotional core of mine. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member The beautiful farwell letter from the legendary director Nicholas Ray. It's about a Nicholas Ray who have decided to make his last picture about himself, together with the young german director Wim Wenders. The picture feel so authentical, so real, all the details,Nicholas Ray's appartment with all the film equipment and the Mickey Mouse alam clock. Wim Wenders, who was one of Ray's closest friend at the end of his life, narrating his feeling and thoughts in the most poetick way. the metafilm Lightning Over Water is Ray's 8 1/2. Cut, Cut! Is Ray's last word in this film. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member It's it a documentary? A docu-drama? A work of fiction? I don't know. Is it really interesting? Yep. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      Lightning Over Water

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis The last months in the life of Nicholas Ray as seen by fellow filmmaker Wim Wenders and various friends and family.
      Director
      Wim Wenders, Nicholas Ray
      Production Co
      Road Movies Filmproduktion [de], Wim Wenders Productions, Viking Film
      Genre
      Documentary
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Oct 27, 1981, Limited
      Release Date (DVD)
      Jan 7, 2003
      Runtime
      1h 56m