1 QUICK FIX #FOUR: WERNER HERZOG'S THE GREAT ECSTASY OF WOODCARVER STEINER (1974)

As far as short films go, this one's pretty lengthy, clocking in at almost 45 minutes in running time.  But I'd argue that it's as essential a film as Werner Herzog ever made (okay, a close second after Lessons of Darkness), containing deep ruminations on the mystical and Freudian impulses (the death drive, specifically) often present in his work without being bogged down on a surface level by overly ponderous pronouncements on those subjects.

One can truly enjoy the piece for its base elements: awe-inspiring, slow-motion 16mm cinematography of the greatest (circa the early 1970s) ski-jumper in the world, Walter Steiner, performing his trade, coming within inches of extreme peril each time he competes, as well as complimentary ethereal music by Popol Vuh, and the film's outside-the-box approach to the sports documentary genre.

It's the visual element that's most stunning here.  Cinematographer Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein camera work erases all trace of gravity from Steiner's record breaking jumps.  I've yet to see anything else captured on film that isolates its subject from standard worldly experiences as effectively as The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner; it's like watching the moon landing, if the astronauts' bodies were substituted for their spacecraft.

Regarding the risk inherent in Steiner's sport: his frustration around the imposed boundaries for his jumps (which he regularly oversteps) mirrors that of the late Formula One racer Ayrton Senna, the subject of last year's must-see documentary Senna.  As Steiner jumps further and further, there is little accommodation made by the sporting officials for his safety, placing him in extreme danger if he continues to compete at the full extent of his powers.  It's a tension that is transferred to the viewer as Steiner hurtles through space repeatedly throughout the film.

A magnificent documentary that truly pushes the form forward.  Sit back and enjoy The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner:

A note: if you're having trouble turning on the subtitles, you may have to view the video directly on YouTube.

Related links:

1 QUICK FIX #ONE: POWERS OF TEN 

1 QUICK FIX #TWO: UNE NUIT SUR LE MONT CHAUVE (A NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN) 

1 QUICK FIX #THREE: ORGANISM
Best of 2011-->>eleven through fifteen
Best of 2011-->>sixteen through twenty
The Real Rocky: The Bleeder Gets His Due 

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PDX hung out w/ Wim Wenders @ Cinema 21 last Thursday!!!

It didn't matter how tired I was after so many PIFF screenings.  There was no way I was gonna miss out on Wim Wenders' appearance at Cinema 21 last week.  The man is a personal hero of mine, his fluidity of process continually inspiring my own approach to creative work.

There's a unique flavor of narrative freedom saturated with resigned nostalgia present in the best of Wenders' work (Alice in the Cities, Lightning Over Water, Paris, Texas, and The American Friend, to name just a few).  Even if you've only seen a couple of his movies, his style is unmistakable, though his path to getting there varies from project to project.

One of the New German Cinema pack (a name given by film journalists to a group of post-reconstruction era German auteurs of the time that also included Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, etc.) that sprung into the limelight during the 1970s, Wenders, like Herzog, is one of the few who grew into an international artist, working outside of Germany regularly, spreading his European sensibilities beyond the borders of his homeland.

Presently, he's promoting his most recent film, Pina, the Oscar-nominated, 3D documentary that presents the work of the late choreographer/dance company director Pina Bausch.  It's why he showed up in our small burg, introducing the film, as well as sticking around to answer a few questions from the audience after the 7pm screening. 

Before the film, Wenders asked if anyone had ever been to a small village named Wuppertal, where the film is set.  A couple of hoots from the audience either suggested that, yes, a few people had visited, or that the many beers being sold in the lobby were inspiring an agreeable conviviality bordering on benign deception; either way, it was clear that the audience was already in the palm of Wim's hand.

The film itself is a wonderful use of stereoscopic technology.  Even more than Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams,  I can't imagine how reduced the experience would be by seeing the film in a two-dimensional presentation.  It requires the illusion of defined 3D space to properly convey the dances that Pina and her company conceived together.  Beyond that, it's a beautiful introduction to Pina's work, even to a dance neophyte such as myself.

Post-screening, Wim admitted that if Pina had not passed shortly before shooting on the project began the film would have been an entirely different picture.  He said his original vision was to make a film about Pina's eyes, the way she saw, and how it influenced her work.  After Bausch's death, the dancers convinced Wenders that there was still a film that could be made about Pina; one that still included the four numbers that Pina had wanted in the project.

On their own, those dance pieces were not enough to constitute a film and Wenders found himself in need of an appropriate solution for supplementing the material.  He relied on the dance company's intimate knowledge of Pina's process to inform his own ability to add to the planned material, devising a film that included additional dances prompted by a complex series of (Pina's) questions answered by danced responses.  Those additions, all filmed outside the studio, add a harmonizing playfulness that breathes much life into the film.  Yet again, another example of Wenders' ability to work outside the box to great results.

If you'd like to hear Wenders speak more about the project, why not listen to the most recent edition of the NW Film Center's Adjust Your Tracking podcast, featuring Film Center staffer/journalist Erik McClanahan's phone conversation with him.  Hit the link to tune in.


All photos are courtesy of Viva Las Vegas, who was lucky enough to be in the front row for Wenders' Q&A.  Thanks again, Viva!

Also many thanks to both Cinema 21 and PIFF/NW Film Center for partnering to bring Wenders to PDX!  A great night, folks. 

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Best of 2011 -->> eleven through fifteen

#15 Another Year (dir. Mike Leigh):

The small victories of an aging English couple are contrasted against the miserable lives of their friends.  It isn't that Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) have everything; their successes are modest: occupations that feed them intellectually and spiritually, the emotional support of each other, and a adult son whose company they enjoy.  But placed against Mary's (Lesley Manville) complete inability to navigate the daily grind, theirs are lives that work.

A true actor's piece where everyone completely inhabits their roles.  This may be my favorite Mike Leigh film since Life is Sweet.

#14 Tabloid (dir. Errol Morris):

Errol Morris returns to the valley of the freaks with this one.  The film relays the exploits of Joyce McKinney, a woman who, after being dumped, assumed her boyfriend had been brainwashed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  So, what's a girl to do?  Allegedly, Joyce's solution was to kidnap, drug and rape the man out of his religious convictions.
Morris is a master documentary filmmaker; one of our best.  Here he plays both sides of the story, letting Joyce, her accusers and those caught in the fray the opportunity to tell their version of the truth. 

#13 Into the Abyss (dir. Werner Herzog):

An admission: during first 15 minutes or so, I was disappointed that this film features none of Herzog's characteristically downcast narration. This, however, was before I understood what he was trying to craft here.  Simply put, this documentary is Herzog's most mature work to date.  Accordingly,  he keeps himself (mostly) out of the picture, choosing instead to focus on the story of a triple homicide and the people involved.

Herzog's version of Texas is one where everyone has experienced loss, often violently, leading us to believe that the central crime of the narrative is just a more heightened version of business as usual. Of course, post-screening, one must square the facts presented with Herzog's own notion of ecstatic truth, at which point the portrait of Texas does become questionable, as does the sequence where Herzog shows us the bullet-ridden cars that "testify" to various acts of violence. But the impact of the film remains.

#12 Senna (dir. Asif Kapadia):


The simultaneously thrilling and tragic tale of Aryton Senna, the best Formula One racing driver of his generation, is told almost entirely through frenetically-charged, archival materials. As such, it is a documentary of pure immediacy, a historical portrait that plays out in the present tense most of the time. A tension-filled masterpiece capable of captivating even viewers who know nothing (or care nothing) of the sport that its subject dominated.

#11 Meek's Cutoff (dir. Kelly Reichardt):

Kelly Reichardt's third collaboration with screenwriter Jon Raymond finds the duo moving even further away from explanatory exposition than in their previous films. Meek's Cutoff is more about what is left unspoken.
Hit the link to read what I had to say about it in March.
 

 

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Best of 2011 -->> sixteen through twenty

There is little that is more subjective than attempts to list the "best-of" any given thing or category.  Ranking artifacts of pop culture, especially in cases like this, when the items in question are fairly new to this world, deepens my own suspicion that the hierarchical ordering of one thing over another is a task belonging to false prophets and the self-deluded.

In the spirit of this election year, however, I fully endorse my inclusion of all the films on this list.  It's the ordering, especially the top 5 films, that troubles me.  Granted a different mood, a second viewing or, especially, the passage of time, I imagine the ordering of the list would be quite different.  So...take the following with a grain of salt.  Check out the films you may have missed and consider taking another look at those you've already seen.  I dug 'em all.

#20 The Names of Love (dir. Michel Leclerc):

This French gem is a work of biting sociopolitical critique masquerading as a romantic comedy. Remember that song from Mary Poppins about how "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down?" In this case, the familiarity of genre is the sugar that allows for an easier acceptance of what's being forwarded. 

The two leads, Sara Forestier and Jacques Gamblin, display an impeccable gift for this kind of material and their shared chemistry leaps off the screen.  It's also very likely the funniest film I saw this year.

#19 Win Win (dir. Thomas McCarthy):

Thomas McCarthy's semi-recent transition from an actor to an actor's director has continued to pay out in dividends. From the modest successes of The Station Agent and The Visitor, it became clear that McCarthy knew his way around story and character, anchoring both to an emotional weight that is hard to resist. 

Like those previous films, Win Win has heart aplenty and a cast made up of great American character actors like Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan. The story, about a failing lawyer who coaches a high school wrestling team, barely registers this time around, since McCarthy places the focus on the lives of the people who populate it. In other words, it's not really about the wrestling.

#18 The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (dir. Werner Herzog):

This is probably the only 3d film where I felt the gimmick enhanced the viewing experience.  Herzog takes his audience deep below the earth's surface to question humanity's shared drive to leave behind testaments to our own existence.  The paintings found at the Chauvet caves in France serve as a springboard for Herzog's philosophical musings about why we create and what it means in the larger scheme of all things human.

#17 Of Gods and Men (dir. Xavier Beauvois):

I saw this one a second time when it came out on Blu-ray. It only deepened my appreciation of the acting on display here. Hit the link to see what I wrote about the film back in February.

#16 Bobby Fischer Against the World (dir. Liz Garbus):

The tragic tale of chess genius Bobby Fischer made for one hell of a tensely, dramatic documentary. Edited by the late Karen Schmeer whose cutting here resembles the intelligent pacing of her work on Errol Morris' films.

 

And that concludes this installment of "the best of 2011."  The next five on the list should be up on the blog fairly soon, so stay tuned for more.   In the meantime, why not check out some of the films on the list?

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