In La danse, Wiseman allows us to observe multiple corners of the Paris Opera Ballet, from rehearsal studios to costume rooms to administrative offices. We get extensive access to choreographers as they work with dancers in both classical and modern styles. You needn’t be a dance aficionado to marvel at the beauty and athleticism on display. —tiff.net
Documentarian Frederick Wiseman has been noted for his ability to capture the nuances of life in American institutions such as prisons, hospitals, welfare offices, and high schools. He started out in 1963 by producing a fictional feature film, The Cool World, an examination of the lives of Harlem teenagers. In the beginning, Wiseman was a staunch social reformist, and his films were calls for change. Titicut Follies, his first documentary, is an exposé of life in a prison for the criminally insane in Bridgewater, MA. It was controversial and left Wiseman with the reputation of being a muckraker. His four subsequent documentaries were all exposés of other tax-supported institutions designed to show the ineffectiveness of the bureaucracy that not only threatens to destroy them, but also dehumanizes the people they were meant to serve. Wiseman toned down his message and began focusing more on American culture to point out the symbolism of daily activities in his film Primate (1974). In… read more
What an immense organisation and achievement the Opera Ballet is, so many cogs in the machine! It reminded me of when Chelsea won a match, the Tea lady congratulated Mourinho on what he and the team had done, he corrected her, "no, what we've done". The film is thought-provoking, fascinating, mesmerising and beautiful, and to my eye the dancing was superb.
Once again, by necessity, a roundup of events in New York. "By pure serendipity, two magnificent movies about ballet - one fiction, one
Revelations were thin on the ground at London Film Festival this year. Despite the exhibition of almost three hundred new films, no
