Pina (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Greg S

  
  Wim Wenders tribute to avant-garde choreographer Pina Baush (who unexpectedly died during filming); it features elaborate 3-D stagings of her abstract dances interspersed with tributes from members of her company. I'm not sure this labor of love will do for the esoteric field of… More
  Wim Wenders tribute to avant-garde choreographer Pina Baush (who unexpectedly died during filming); it features elaborate 3-D stagings of her abstract dances interspersed with tributes from members of her company. I'm not sure this labor of love will do for the esoteric field of modern dance what BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB did for Cuban music, but it's impossible to come away unimpressed by the grace, dedication and creativity of the dancers.

• Mark H

  
  Wim Wenders' has done a tremendous job in bringing Pina's artistry to the screen. The director has used cranes and steady cams to capture the dance as if we were in the middle of the production. He's also chosen to shoot the film in 3D. It's not required to enjoy… More
  Wim Wenders' has done a tremendous job in bringing Pina's artistry to the screen. The director has used cranes and steady cams to capture the dance as if we were in the middle of the production. He's also chosen to shoot the film in 3D. It's not required to enjoy the spectacle, but certainly highly recommended. The addition of the 3D format significantly adds to the feeling of being there on stage. The technically complex choreography of the troupe is even more impressive. Every time a new piece unfolded on screen I was transfixed not only by the dancing, but also by the creative cinematography and the beautiful music. By the end, one realizes this is merely a series of performances. There is no narrative about the woman herself to truly get us emotionally involved. Personally I can only get so excited about modern dance. However, before Pina, I had never heard of the choreographer and now I am a fan. Wim Wenders has made a hypnotic document to the legacy of an incredibly talented individual. Without words he presents a moving elegy full of feeling. Pina is a heady mix of her artistry and Wim Wenders' direction. http://fastfilmreviews.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/pina/

• Anthony L

  
  I knew nothing about Pina Bausch before this film and had pretty much no interest in Dance. That has now changed thanks to a) Wim Wender's fantastic approach to documentaries - particularly his tributes and b) Pina Bausch's dances are a little bit more interesting than a… More
  I knew nothing about Pina Bausch before this film and had pretty much no interest in Dance. That has now changed thanks to a) Wim Wender's fantastic approach to documentaries - particularly his tributes and b) Pina Bausch's dances are a little bit more interesting than a bunch of skeletons in false smiles and tutus. The visuals here are stunning, even if some of the dances are unintentionally quite amusing, there is always something new and exciting to look at. I found the film to be interesting, informative and quite relaxing. If a Pina Bausch production was to pop up in London any time soon I would definitely buy a ticket!

• Jennifer X

  
  Pina is one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen in my life. Usually dance is so abstract but there's the hugest sense of storytelling here - about mechanization and attempts at mechanization only to fall to the ground limp.

• Carlos M

  
  Rarely I have seen a 3D so well made, putting us almost onstage among the dancers. From the spectacular choreography of Rite of Spring to the melancholy of Café Müller, this documentary made by Wim Wenders takes us on a fascinating journey into the work of an artist and her legacy in… More
  Rarely I have seen a 3D so well made, putting us almost onstage among the dancers. From the spectacular choreography of Rite of Spring to the melancholy of Café Müller, this documentary made by Wim Wenders takes us on a fascinating journey into the work of an artist and her legacy in the development of the expressionist dance.

• Mike N

  
  Incredible stuff. Scarcely have I witnessed a more fluid, synchronous marriage of film and theater. For though this was a film chronicling the ever-inventive and inspiring Pina Bausch, a legendary German modern dance choreographer, it really was theatrical in many dramatic, stunning,… More
  Incredible stuff. Scarcely have I witnessed a more fluid, synchronous marriage of film and theater. For though this was a film chronicling the ever-inventive and inspiring Pina Bausch, a legendary German modern dance choreographer, it really was theatrical in many dramatic, stunning, and even absurd ways, from staging a carnal gladiatorial fantasia to evoking Cirque du Soleil in feats of balance and whimsy and sheer artistry. Pina's choreography bottles up the dancers with a kind of finicky anxiety that shoots out in angular directions, punctuating with intense explosions of expression, only to retreat back into the previous restraints. The dance pieces often use abundance, either in performers or in certain props or extension of stage (and said staging is often outdoors, be it against nature or craggy or industrial man-made landscapes) to create many thoughtful and gorgeous juxtapositions. And there's just enough tangible story in each piece to really stir the senses, and a winding theme that fits the film's elegiac energy. And yet, despite such obvious praise, Wim Wenders really makes this film sing (or dance?) with his own artful direction. Involving the audience by incorporating both empty and filled seats in the foreground, and of the silent voiceover testimonials of all the performers, is essential to the viewing experience. The dancer interviews, which I feel is the film's true pièce de résistance, really lures in the viewer with contemplative blurbs from and about each dancer, revealing a glimpse of their humanity (shy, afraid, not crazy enough, etc.) as they reveal the advice and the inspiration of Pina Bausch - who oh by the way had died days before principle photography began. Some criticisms of Pina - the film - stem from not allowing the longer dance pieces play out organically, in that Wenders interjects too often with spliced-in footage from past performances of the same piece, an occasional rumination on art, or gradient editing into different environments between pieces. Which is odd, because I think that approach was paramount to showing the evolution of Bausch's work and the dramatic flow of the entire film itself. Nevertheless, the knowledge that Pina had recently died is important in this film, lending gravity to scenes of merely showing archive-style footage of Pina in front of the performers. And such scenes reinforce a mournful tone throughout that occasionally bursts with celebration. This seems even more the case as we gradually meet each member of the company, and you begin to recognize everybody in the ensemble scenes, and it creates a feeling of connection, even to the creative process and possibly to Pina herself and her vision by proxy. And I can't think of a more successful, honorable tribute than that. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Full circle.

• Walter M

  
  Rewind about ten years to an early scene in "Talk to Her" where a couple of characters are watching a dance piece where dancers pretending to be blind navigate an obstacle course of chairs. At the time, I did not know what to make of this, as there was no context.(On a… More
  Rewind about ten years to an early scene in "Talk to Her" where a couple of characters are watching a dance piece where dancers pretending to be blind navigate an obstacle course of chairs. At the time, I did not know what to make of this, as there was no context.(On a totally unrelated note, I have no idea what I had for breakfast this morning.) The enlightening documentary "Pina" corrects this misperception as it turns out this was a defining piece by legendary choreographer Pina Bausch called 'Cafe Muller.' That is not the only piece on display, as one is performed before being compared to footage of Bausch directing her troupe in rehearsals. Otherwise, her international troupe of dancers pay tribute to her as they mention that she gave little guidance, allowing the dancers to find themselves in these pieces whose movements are not as fuild as a casual viewer would usually associate with dance. As two of her dancers testify, she was interested in love and obstacles, and I think that it is the point of her work that her characters have to struggle in finding love. In this documentary, these pieces are taken out of the studio and the theatre and moved into the real world where there are even bigger obstacles, highlighting the visual style of the performances, although I have seen behavior like that plenty of times on the New York City Subway.

• Christopher H

  
  Not a huge fan of modern dance, this is still a beautifully shot and passionate film. More of a meditation on the life of Pina Bausch, Pina really opens up this world of dance to the public and engages with its different locations and props.

• Linda K

  
  An astonishing experience to discover Pina's work in 3D. Not having any knowledge about the German choreographer's work, I found myself moved by the interpretations through the course of the film which are very theatrical but filled with sadness and joy. Like Pina expressed… More
  An astonishing experience to discover Pina's work in 3D. Not having any knowledge about the German choreographer's work, I found myself moved by the interpretations through the course of the film which are very theatrical but filled with sadness and joy. Like Pina expressed about her work, the film cannot be described in words but through the emotions of the dancers' movement.

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