Filmed in between the first and second shootings of the Zoetrope-produced Hammett, The State of Things is another in a long series of Wim Wenders' attempts to come to grips with the effect of American cultural and economic interests on the European mind and spirit. The State of Things is shot in stunning black and white photography by Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast) and Fred Murphy, contrasting the sombre beauty of the rocky Portugal coastline with the claustrophobic squalor of LA fastfood chains, freeways and other artifacts of the post-technological era. In contrast with Hammett, this film is a low-budget production more reminiscent of Wenders' Kings of the Road, both visually and in its highly personal narrative style. According to Wenders, “(The State of Things) is a film about filmmaking, about the very conditions of filmmaking.”
As the film opens, a film crew is shooting a low-budget remake of Allan Dwan's The Most Dangerous Man Alive that tells the story of six survivors of the nuclear holocaust. When the production runs out of money, concern shifts from filming a story of survival to the survival of the film itself. Friedrich, the director, flies to Hollywood in search of the film's elusive producer, Gordon, who has gone ahead to raise more money. In Hollywood survival takes another form. The imagined future of post-nuclear war and the languorous present of the Portugal coast are forgotten and Gordon is found fighting for his own survival trapped in our present future that is Hollywood.