Mind over matter
Pina carries a powerful message and it may score over more visceral films like If A Tree Falls and Undefeated,
Choreography’ is a word that conjures up images of prissy hippopotami inducing twinkle-toed lovers to prance about in front of backup dancers in popular films which are disdainful of continuity and the intelligence of audiences. For German modern dance teacher Philippina ‘Pina’ Bausch — the leader of the troupe Tanztheater Wuppertal and subject of Wembers’s documentary — choreography, music and theatre were organs of the same living, breathing form of expression.
While the original nature of the documentary was supposed to be the woman and her craft, this was rendered impossible by her passing away before the shooting. Archival footage, testimonies and tribute performances stand in for the dance doyenne.
The tribute performances, on and off stage, are interspersed with the reflections of reminiscing acolytes and associates which come in like hypnic jerks interrupting the oneiric effect. Being prone livelier forms of expression than futile language can contain, their words (not restricted to solely the German tongue) are few, but their grief is apparent and immense and their sense of loss very much tangible. While performances acquaint us with Bausch’s logic, reasoning and sometimes less-than-sparse production design. The testimonies dubbed over still-lipped diverse pupils offer viewers testimony to her gentle, nurturing influence.
Pina faces competition from documentaries that are in truer spirit to style of the genre such as the perspective-broadening If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front and the inspiring Undefeated. The former throws light upon environmental extremists, in particular, arsonist Daniel McGowan (don’t scoff, the FBI wouldn’t call the ELF the number one domestic threat for nothing). The latter, directed by Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin’s is cited as a favourite to win the Best Documentary by IndieWire, a daily news site for the independent film community, celebrates the human spirit and in a US football team that, with the prodding of a coach, rises above circumstance in 2009. Also, there are more visceral subjects such as the less-than-smooth journey of an army sergeant from the battlefield to domestic and civilian life in Hell and Back Again. And then again, Pina doesn’t talk about the justice system in the US, advocating the cause of the release of innocent prisoners of 18 years like HBO’s Paradise Lost 3.
However, we pick the film for its appealing quality to the aesthetic sensibility and the power and beauty of its message on self-expression .Whether viewed in 3D or not, the documentary is as visually gripping as it is quirky. The camerawork does justice of the artistic expression with one scene capturing Bausch’s earthy, savage even, rendition of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with its mud-caked players and their primal trace-like gyrations which is contrasted by entrancing solo performed by her exponents that range from spiritedly odd to the elegiac.
While a must-watch for modern dance enthusiasts, Pina is definitely one for those who think dance, as an art form, is secondary to musical expression.
No, the documentary isn’t a chronicle (and may not display the street credentials associated with the genre), but a playful farewell that paints a vivid portrait of a mortal who took strove to find meaning within the dynamism of dance and wanted no less than for everyone to join in.
Pina carries a powerful message and it may score over more visceral films like If A Tree Falls and Undefeated,
Choreography’ is a word that conjures up images of prissy hippopotami inducing twinkle-toed lovers to prance about in front of backup dancers in popular films which are disdainful of continuity and the intelligence of audiences. For German modern dance teacher Philippina ‘Pina’ Bausch — the leader of the troupe Tanztheater Wuppertal and subject of Wembers’s documentary — choreography, music and theatre were organs of the same living, breathing form of expression.
While the original nature of the documentary was supposed to be the woman and her craft, this was rendered impossible by her passing away before the shooting. Archival footage, testimonies and tribute performances stand in for the dance doyenne.
The tribute performances, on and off stage, are interspersed with the reflections of reminiscing acolytes and associates which come in like hypnic jerks interrupting the oneiric effect. Being prone livelier forms of expression than futile language can contain, their words (not restricted to solely the German tongue) are few, but their grief is apparent and immense and their sense of loss very much tangible. While performances acquaint us with Bausch’s logic, reasoning and sometimes less-than-sparse production design. The testimonies dubbed over still-lipped diverse pupils offer viewers testimony to her gentle, nurturing influence.
Pina faces competition from documentaries that are in truer spirit to style of the genre such as the perspective-broadening If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front and the inspiring Undefeated. The former throws light upon environmental extremists, in particular, arsonist Daniel McGowan (don’t scoff, the FBI wouldn’t call the ELF the number one domestic threat for nothing). The latter, directed by Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin’s is cited as a favourite to win the Best Documentary by IndieWire, a daily news site for the independent film community, celebrates the human spirit and in a US football team that, with the prodding of a coach, rises above circumstance in 2009. Also, there are more visceral subjects such as the less-than-smooth journey of an army sergeant from the battlefield to domestic and civilian life in Hell and Back Again. And then again, Pina doesn’t talk about the justice system in the US, advocating the cause of the release of innocent prisoners of 18 years like HBO’s Paradise Lost 3.
However, we pick the film for its appealing quality to the aesthetic sensibility and the power and beauty of its message on self-expression .Whether viewed in 3D or not, the documentary is as visually gripping as it is quirky. The camerawork does justice of the artistic expression with one scene capturing Bausch’s earthy, savage even, rendition of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with its mud-caked players and their primal trace-like gyrations which is contrasted by entrancing solo performed by her exponents that range from spiritedly odd to the elegiac.
While a must-watch for modern dance enthusiasts, Pina is definitely one for those who think dance, as an art form, is secondary to musical expression.
No, the documentary isn’t a chronicle (and may not display the street credentials associated with the genre), but a playful farewell that paints a vivid portrait of a mortal who took strove to find meaning within the dynamism of dance and wanted no less than for everyone to join in.
No comments:
Post a Comment