These scenarios may seem like exotic action fare, but the film, adapted from a novel by J.M. Ledgard and gracefully directed by Wim Wenders, tends toward romance and philosophy.

It's all a bit too literal, and much of the dialogue is stiff and unnatural.

This is the film of an old man who has retained a humble, almost naive attitude to experience, an awareness there are depths he has left unplumbed. There is something quite moving about this.

When melodramas work, they stick in our minds and stay there. But with this, it had such little to offer that I'm already starting to forget it.