Anselm (2023)

January 25, 2024 10:05 AM

Wim Wenders, who a decade ago documented dancer Pina Bausch in 3D, turns his 3D lenses on artist Anselm Kiefer.

Kiefer works at an incredible scale. His studios are former factories, which he travels around by bike and cherry picker to work on his paintings. He has also been producing a major installation at Barjac, France. In the film, Kiefer is also played by two other actors representing him as a child and a young man. At some points there is a troubling use of Nazi imagery such as the straight-armed salute, but it is explained that this is in the interest of not forgetting. He also uses the writing of poet Paul Celan as an inspiration.

posted by larrybob (3 comments total)

Saw a special 3D presentation at the Roxie in SF last night. Pretty big turnout. They said they are adding to the run next week. The scale of the work is really impressive and the 3D does a good job of capturing the perspective of the work. There isn’t a lot about Anselm Keifer’s personal life (you’d think from this that art is all he ever does but he has been married a couple times and has kids.) There’s a bit of myth making about it.
posted by larrybob at 10:58 AM on January 25

The Pina Bausch in 3D gave an intimacy similar to an intense dance performance live inperson. There were no 3D 'tricks' like leaping over the audience heads, I would've loved to compare a non-3D version on a similar screen to understand the difference. This one should be very cool in an arty way.
posted by sammyo at 1:15 PM on January 25

Really enjoyed this. Saw it last month here in Amsterdam at my local cinema. Was skeptical about the 3D but here it really worked in a calm way to get a feel for the spaces involved instead of any 3D cheap tricks. Beautiful soundtrack as well.

The entire complex is now open to the public for visits. Here's a link to the main site.

I'm really impressed by Wim Wenders who has continued to make great films. I really loved Perfect Days which also came out this past year and I should probably post on FanFare.
posted by vacapinta at 4:42 AM on January 26