Pina
Directed by Wim Wenders
Distributed by Artificial Eye
Until recently, it’s been high-budget Hollywood blockbusters that have adopted the relatively new medium of 3D. However, Pina broke this trend, offering a breathtakingly unique iteration of an all-too-familiar genre and medium of 3D dance movies.
The documentary about German choreographer, Pina Bausch, is artfully manipulated to create a visually opulent, emotionally impactful, and exhilarating piece.
The film follows the life and work of Bausch, who transformed the vocabulary of modern dance through her direction of the Tanztheatre Wuppertal.
Director Wim Wenders significantly alters the familiar structure of a documentary into a more fluid portrayal of the choreography and the dancers’ relationship to the choreographer.
The commentary is minimal, as the film’s substance consists mostly of excerpts from some of Bausch’s most famous pieces and an adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” The tone of the film doesn’t assume any level of familiarity with Bausch’s work and is great for all audiences.
Much like Bausch’s choreography, the narrative of the film is held together by motifs. Woven into the performance excerpts are brief glimpses into their conception. Individual dancers are often captured in portrait shots.
The performance is also extended beyond the stage. Pairs of dancers perform surreal vignettes throughout the company’s native town of Wuppertal: on an escalator against a vivid sunset, in a shallow riverbed or a cavernous quarry.
Both Bausch’s pieces and their portrayal are deeply haunting. “The Rite of Spring” is a fluid, energetic, and primal depiction of an ancient ritual, in which a young girl dances herself to death as a sacrifice to appease the gods. The floor of the stage is packed with earth.
Every gesture and expression is magnified and projected outwards to the viewer. The movement of the camera itself is in constant counterpoint to its subject, emphasizing every lunge, thrust and pirouette.
Wenders approach to the tribute is much less documentary. Instead it seems to pay tribute to Bausch by attempting to capture the very essence of her work through an elegant style.
