Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Painstaking
Watching a ballet being designed and built is a fascinating process.
Today's film goes backstage at The New York City Ballet as Justin Peck designs and directs, then opens, a new work.
About an hour to show the building of a production from paper to theater.
I have seen this kind of film before and it is always fascinating.
Peck is a particularly attractive "star". Earnest, kind and temperate, and very talented. He exudes a quiet authority.
The documentary does not seek to make anything out of what we see. There is no commentary. Just Peck at work.
I appreciated that they did not try to show his other non-work sides. The furthest they go is to show him commuting and waiting for a train. He executes pacing like a dancer.
He is a guy that I would like to get to know. Not a boy from next door but a more complicated talent who is also down to earth and a good human being.
If there is a temperament there it is directed at his work. Humble.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: dance, documentary, films
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Dancing to love
Today's film is about dance and has five dances to tell the story.
A small dance troupe in New York gets ready for a recital.
Five dancers. Two young men fall in love.
Their relationship proceeds from the first to last of the quintette films.
Very simple. Very nice. Sweet.
Spoiler. Nothing bad happens.
Another one. Everyone is happy.
Still another. Gay men have great romantic experiences because they are so hungry for contact and wary of intimacy with another man that when they find love they go for it with a wild enthusiasm.
We are not an easy lot to be with.
But love finds the answer as happens in this very nice, sweet film.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Oh. The dancing is pretty good too.
Labels: dance, films, gay films
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Life in the time of HIV
It is the early 80s and AIDS has been around a few years.
A test for HIV has been invented.
Hence this film about how these events impact a male dancer and his friends.
Almost all of this film centers on the activities of a small dance troupe so there is a lot of performance to watch. In between there is a story about what the HIV test meant to some gay men and how they dealt with the results.
It is beautifully done and part of our collection. It should be seen by everyone.
The dance is modern something and pretty to watch as all the men are shirtless.
Part of our collection, it is a 5. And if it just came along probably a 3 or 4.
Labels: dance, films, gay films
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Check this guy out
A whole bunch of dance videos.
By this guy.
Just Some Motion (JSM).
Soft shoe plus.
He makes me think of Fred Astaire.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Dance
I think it is very difficult to make a good film about dancers and dancing.
And this one succeeds very well, the rare exception.
Real dancers, real dancing, five stories. The main story is about the two male dancers who slowly are attracted to each other and, well, that would be telling the ending.
One of the guys is a virgin, the other an experienced two relationship guy. A little older.
We get to see them dance with one another. There is a lot of dancing and that is a good thing.
The other dancers are as interesting and there are smaller subplots going on here as well.
The thing I enjoyed most was the tie-in of a dance then an advance of the story line in each of five segments. Very nice. Not slick. Just well done. Masterful.
I will buy this disc. That makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
On the ballet
Good ballet films are hard to come by.
But today's documentary by Frederick Wiseman is so engrossing that its great length (over 2.5 hours) disappears.
Showing a mix of behind the scenes and performance work, there is no narration. The film tells its own story. Even the dancers' talk is limited. A lot of show not tell.
La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (2009)
There are generous scenes of the house itself. The surrounding neighborhood in the heart of Paris. It is a gorgeous building.
And, of course, gorgeous people. A little short on the male dancers but that is often the case. That is OK.
This is a wonderful film. I would not mind seeing it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Dancer from the dance
I have had the privilege of being with professional dancers in my life, backstage.
It is not an easy life and yet it is wonderfully rewarding in every instant. From the first dance class to the retirement from the stage, it is a life which is devoted to only one thing. Dance. Other life events occur but all are in reference to the one thing. Dance.
Today's film is a tribute to a person and the profession.
Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013)
Through archival footage and contemporary interview with people who were close to her, Tanny's story is brought alive vividly and very engagingly.
Le Clercq was a prima ballerina with Balanchine, Robbins and other top dance directors. In one trip to Europe, she became ill and was diagnosed with polio. The dread disease which has, by now, been conquered. At that time, I remember, it was the terror that walked by everyone especially young people. A very grim reaper.
She became paralyzed and never regained more than movement in one arm.
We see her dance. Luminous. We see her after the illness. Still luminous. She beat it. Not the disease. She never danced again. But she had a life in dance and in all other respects. Told she would die in her forties she lasted into her eighties.
Indomitable.
An important narrator is her main dance partner Jacques d’Amboise who is still bright eyed and also still has his Bronx accent. An American he had to affect a frenchified persona to advance. Then dropped it later in his career. Another wonderful story of transformation.
I am not attracted to this kind of film because I do not like sob stories and avoid emotional manipulation. But there is none of this here.
It is straight forward with lots and lots of footage of Le Clercq dancing. She appeared widely on national television frequently. A star. I am grateful that they did not use the sound from these clips but managed to dub in appropriate, high fidelity music that perfectly matches the steps. Ballet is, of course, essentially music set to music. The timing is as precise in all respects. But it does take some care to dub in as the film does so successfully. I think it makes all the difference.
I am really glad that I saw this and would not mind seeing it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Question: What is dubstep?
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
DANCE
Todays movie was Wim Wender's documentary/performance film
Pina: Dance, Dance or Otherwise We Are Lost
We got this disc for just this purpose.
Getting away from everything for awhile and watching people move.
And move so beautifully and uniquely that words fail.
Monday, April 01, 2013
BEAUTIFUL KIDS
Today's film was the dance documentary
Tanzträume / Dancing Dreams (2010)
in which forty kids get to work for a year on one of Pina Bausch' dance theater works.
We have seen parts of this dance before. Kontakthof / Contact Zone. It was in the DVD Pina which shows her full adult company in a variety of pieces.
This one is about contact between men and women. For kids, an especially potent subject.
They are shy, they are diffident. They are awkward and ill at ease. And then they break through. Finally we get to see enough of the final product to marvel at the great affect this will have on their lives whether they become dancers or not.
It is also a variety of kids. Black, white, blond, dark. Ethnic varieties. Serb, Gypsy, African. And of course hard core German blonds!
Both genders grow into their adult possibilities. Pina says that the dance doesn't require adult moves and emotions. She means it to work for adolescents and it does. Transformation.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5. We own both Pina films and are very happy about it.
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.
Saturday, December 01, 2012
TOES
Today's film was a dancumentary. The kind where kids from 11-16 compete for scholarships to the most prestigious dance schools.
These are almost all the same. But I never tire of them.
Young people are selected to go to semi-finals then the final in NYC and the documentarian has to pick a number to follow through from beginning to end. Tell their stories. Go behind the scenes.
This is a good one. Moves right along. Doesn't get all sentimental about it. A few of the kids do not win. No one loses. But it is, believe it or not, the end of their careers if they do not get a prize or scholarship. Fifty thousand dollars at American Ballet, the Royal Ballet and so on.
This one also shows the pain. The injury. The "loss of childhood" which does not really impress the participants. They are having a life and a good one.
Parents dote. Some harass. Teachers, moreover, are seen backing parents off, taking the side of the kids. Nice.
It is beautifully photographed and the kids are interesting and very attractive.
You can see the difference between the potential stars and the others. It is evident from the first leap to the stage. A phenomenon which must be seen. The utter transformation of the human kid into a world class dancer in one step from the dark onto the stage. Boom.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5. It moves right along. Utterly unsentimental and never exploitive. Some beautiful young lives in process.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
THE DANCING GUY FINALE
You may remember my fascination with the "dancing guy" Matt Harding.
I have followed him through three around the world dancing videos and now he is done. The last one. And the best.
All of these, or most, are fans over the years that came out to work on the individual dances. What is new, is choreography! He has come a long way.
There is always a point, not the same often, where tears come and I choke up. All those people. So much happiness. Such a great idea brought to fruition.
Very goose pimply.
He finally grows up and has a marriage and a kid.
Now he has to get a job.
Note the one at MIT!
You can see all the previous videos here.
Labels: dance, dancing, fun. music
Friday, November 04, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
DANCE
Today's film was a BBC production of Merce Cunningham's
Points in Space (2007)
a work developed specifically for dancers and television cameras.
The accompaniment is a work by John Cage, composed separately along the same time frame to mesh with the timing of the dancers but not designed to illustrate or support the dance. The dance does not support the music.
In fact the dancers hear the score at their performance.
This is part of the random chance idea in the two men's art.
It is quite good. Oddly, the music and dance come together quite nicely. Very satisfying.
The first half of the film explains what is going on and shows the rehearsal and composition phase. Always a treat to hear Cage and Cunningham talk about their work and each other.
They were partners in life as well as collaborators in their work.
We saw Cunningham about 1995 before we moved here. It was quite thrilling. A solo performance.
This was a 4 out of Netflix5. Fruity British commentary aside.
Friday, June 03, 2011
DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE
Today's film was
Born to Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre (2002)
a teevee documentary which is on DVD. A little outdated but not too much. One dancer is gone and there are two others not mentioned. Three.
A silly and inappropriate title. There is a little too much hetero conditioning of the cast. Let's face it. At least half are gay. Obviously so.
And the one in doubt does everything he can to blow smoke.
Nevertheless. The closet notwithstanding. it is very good program. The best part is that a dance is created for the film by Mark Morris (gay as the pope) and we see him work with the men. Very good.
This was a nice break from Michael Haneke. Tomorrow, I return to the tough stuff.
Friday, May 13, 2011
CULTURE CLASH
Today's film was the Anne Bass documentary
Bass, an American philanthropist, finds a young Cambodian dancer and plucks him out of his life in Cambodia and flies him to the USA for intense training in the counter-culture of classical ballet. It is hard for him. It is arduous. He acts out. And he keeps progressing to become a young star of the Northwestern Ballet Company.
He wins prizes. He gets to perform to music by Philip Glass with Glass at the piano. Wow.
This strikes some reviewers of this film as a sort of cruel thing to do to this young man but I do not agree. This is some of the cross cultural bushwaugh that goes on today. Generalities bury the specific case of a unique talent. The PC crowd would have let him starve in his village and have to find a trade of some kind to live.
He is clearly a dancer. He could have dropped out any time. There are no riches involved. He is not being manipulated. He is smart and aware. He has conflicts and voices them. It all adds to the interest of this film.
He has not been kidnapped.
Any dancer faces major isolation from "normal" life. A life with other dancers. I knew/know dancers and can tell you that it is not a life I would want. It involves dedication beyond pain and disappointment to perform, to give. As his teacher says, "to perform a generosity" of his talent.
I am glad for him. I celebrate it. He is a beautiful young man who has an odd combination of gifts from both cultures. A few people interviewed in the film believe that as he matures, ten years hence, he will bring a greater gift of melding the two traditions. I agree. I really liked this film and would like to see it again some time.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
