Monday, March 18, 2013
DANCE DANCE DANCE
Today's movie was Wim Wenders performance documentary
Pina – Dance Dance Otherwise We Are Lost (2011)
a Criterion presentation of Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal.
If you have not seen them before you need to see them now.
If you have seen them before, this wonderful presentation, in 3D no less, is a way to bring back great memories.
The film has selections from the dances rather than the entire works. This is a bit off putting at first, the cuts and sidesteps, but then that annoyance disappears with the realization that this is a banquet and to stand on the sidelines and complain is to miss the opportunity to dive in.
Many of the dances are done al fresco, others on stage before an audience, still others in isolation.
It was great to see the Muller's Cafe again. Wow. The dancers working with their eyes closed.
The less said the better. You have to see it.
Pina, who died suddenly in 2009 only five days after being diagnosed with cancer, left the company bereft and without any compass at all.
This film began only a few days after her death.
The performers are caught in silent headshots as they talk over their own thoughts about Pina. Very moving.
There can be no doubt that their work in the film was inspired by the circumstances.
Pina's work involved the deep collaboration of her dancers. Sets were unique and always a surprise. The style she evolved became copied and known as Tanztheater and influenced the world of modern dance in an extraordinary way.
The production is beautifully realized, to say the least. While I have no 3-D on my computer the standards that must be used for the technology come through clean and clear. Digital of course.
What else. I appreciate the sound track which records the breath and steps, all of it, that the dancers make on top of the score. Very nice. It is quite like being in the theater.
In some dances, Wenders uses the "magic" of film editing to create effects that support the choreography. Quite surprising and welcome.
I will see this again. A 5 out of Netflix5.
