Pina (2011)
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Country: Germany, France, UK
Runtime: 106 min
Pina is an essay on the life and work of renowned choreographer Pina Bausch. Pina appears in some archival footage, and several members of her dance troupe testify to her ingenuity and artistic inspiration. The spirit of Pina, however, lives on in her dances: the film offers four of Bausch’s famed dances in their entirety, but dispersed and intercut throughout the film. The opening dance, The Rite of Spring, is a mesmerizing and penetrating ballet through a field of earth. The film’s hindrance may be that the first number is the strongest, but all four dances are sharp and provocative, and they alternate between soundstages and exterior settings.
Aside from moving the dances outdoors, Wenders transcends the theatrical boundaries of Pina’s stage and offers a wholly cinematic rendering of her dances by shooting them in marvelous 3D.
Country: Germany, France, UK
Runtime: 106 min
Pina is an essay on the life and work of renowned choreographer Pina Bausch. Pina appears in some archival footage, and several members of her dance troupe testify to her ingenuity and artistic inspiration. The spirit of Pina, however, lives on in her dances: the film offers four of Bausch’s famed dances in their entirety, but dispersed and intercut throughout the film. The opening dance, The Rite of Spring, is a mesmerizing and penetrating ballet through a field of earth. The film’s hindrance may be that the first number is the strongest, but all four dances are sharp and provocative, and they alternate between soundstages and exterior settings.
Aside from moving the dances outdoors, Wenders transcends the theatrical boundaries of Pina’s stage and offers a wholly cinematic rendering of her dances by shooting them in marvelous 3D.
