PINA BAUSCH

PINA- doco directed by wim wenders

PINA is a 2011 German 3D dance film directed by Wim Wenders.

The film has been selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.

During the preparation of the documentary about Pina Bausch, she died unexpectedly. 

Wim Wenders cancelled the film production, but the other dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal convinced him to make the film anyway. It now shows these other dancers, talking about her and dancing in her honor, not just in the theater, but most of the time at various outdoor locations.

i loved pina bausch as a choreographer and artist. i remembering attended her 1st LA performance of CAFE MULLER way back in 1984ish with michele lamy, richard newton and my partner michi.

we were all taken with the performance and she influenced my photos shoot for lamy men and michele lamy women's wear the following year.

as a film i find wim wenders uneven and this film falls into this category. some of the performances are spectacular, like the outdoor dance w here the woman dancer falls face first and trusts her male dance partner to catch her... somehow it's heartbreaking. i also loved the "Godzilla" women in a sequin dress boarding the uban in berlin as she creates her own sound effects for all her movements. 

this is what art should be.  the more recent performances are a little too pretentious. 

but who am i to knit-pick. we lost a great artist with the passing of PINA BAUSCH.