In this tender, melancholy road movie, a Polaroid-snapping German photo-journalist (Vogler) travels across the United States and becomes burdened by an obstinate nine-year-old girl, Alice (Rottländer), abandoned by her German mother (Kreuzer). The search for Alice’s family takes the two gradually back to Europe, where, almost wordlessly, they grow closer. A quiet warmth takes effect as Alice and her taciturn companion travel about, including a stop at a Chuck Berry concert. This modest film, which foreshadows Paris, Texas, is perhaps Wenders’s most perfect work, and the most overtly humanist.