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Dancers of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, Regina Advento, Pina Bausch, Malou Airaudo, Ruth Amarante ... see more see more... , Jorge Puerta Armenta , Rainer Behr , Andrey Berezin , Damiano Ottavio Bigi , Ales Cucek , Clémentine Deluy , Josephine Ann Endicott , Lutz Förster , Pablo Aran Gimeno , Mechthild Großmann , Silvia Farias Heredia , Barbara Kaufmann , Nayoung Kim , Daphnis Kokkinos , Ed Kortlandt , Eddie Martinez , Dominique Mercy , Thusnelda Mercy , Cristiana Morganti , Morena Nascimento , Nazareth Panadero , Helena Pikon , Fabien Prioville , Jean-Laurent Sasportes , Franko Schmidt , Azusa Seyama , Julie Shanahan , Julie Anne Stanzak , Michael Strecker , Fernando Suels Mendoza , Aida Vainieri , Anna Wehsarg , Tsai Chin-Yu , Alexeider Abad Gonzales , Stephan Brinkmann , Meritxell Checa Esteban , Paul Hess , Rudolf Giglberger , Chrystel Wu Guillebeaud , Mu-Yi Kuo , Szu-Wei Wu , Tomoko Yamashita , Sergey Zhukov , Andy Zondag , Jorge Puerta

Pina is a feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer, who died in the summer o... read more read more...f 2009. Pina is a film for Pina Bausch by Wim Wenders. He takes the audience on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension: straight onto the stage with the legendary Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch ensemble, he follows the dancers out of the theatre into the city and the surrounding areas of Wuppertal - the place, which for 35 years was the home and centre for Pina Bausch's creativity. -- (C) Official Site

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81% liked it

6,398 ratings

Critics

94% liked it

90 critics

PG, 1 hr. 43 min.

Directed by: Wim Wenders

Release Date: December 23, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (411)

  • hobster1
    May 9, 2012
    hobster1
    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, b... read moreut 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.
  • 5oclockcoffee
    March 25, 2012
    5oclockcoffee
    Freaks, Francesca Woodman + Roy Andersson.

    Pina gives me such a peace, but her choreographies disturb me in such a way that I wonder if it may be the fear of the mirror (identification) or fear of primitivism (has freedom necessarily to be the "loss of self-control"? - only by ... read morethe loss of the self - that lives in social conditioning - we can find ourselves?).
    "Your fragility is your strength".
  • 366weirdmovies
    February 22, 2012
    366weirdmovies
    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 ... read moremodern 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.
  • SirPant
    December 23, 2011
    SirPant
    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... read more 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!
  • jennifxu
    November 15, 2011
    jennifxu
    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.
  • blacksheepboy
    April 28, 2011
    blacksheepboy
    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 legac... read morey in the development of the expressionist dance.
  • hypathio7
    February 23, 2012
    hypathio7
    Fabulous in 3D. Wim Wender has mastered the new technology. Here in Cleveland our Capitol Theatre (part of the Cleveland Cinemas chain) offered a one time opportunity to ask questions to and receive answers from Wenders over Skype following the movie on the big screen. He spoke a... read morebout when he first saw Pina perform and how this film had been in talks for a long time, but only after he realized what 3D could do did he begin developing the project. He told us about the four main group performances that were filmed on stage and the break in filming when Pina so suddenly passed away. The dancers pushed him to continue and finish the film. So they all composed solo or duet dance numbers in answer to questions about their relationship with Pina and Wim chose locations out around the city in Germany for the additional material. It is not a biography of Pina's life, but a celebration of the style of dance she taught and the way she inspired the dancers. It is difficult to tell what some of the dances mean. The dancers say it is easier to express themselves with dance than words, and in fact that words are just as unreliable at expressing our thoughts as movement. I'm skeptical. It sounds just like what a dancer would say. Wim records each member of the ensemble speaking in their own language to introduce the various selections. This helps explain things a bit and shows that many of the dancers have a silly sense of humor. Of course, things are open to interpretation. The use of the elements in several dances, earth and water in particular, are stunning. The return of the dance representing the four seasons keeps the narrative tied together. These dancers really take risks. Visually there is so much for your eyes to take in. This was so good, I think it may have ruined any other amateurish dance recital I might see in the future. I'm so glad the Academy nominated this for best documentary.
  • michaelneumann
    February 15, 2012
    michaelneumann
    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, stunn... read moreing, 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.
  • gator681
    January 18, 2012
    gator681
    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 u... read morenrelated 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.
  • xas5
    February 22, 2012
    xas5
    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.

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Critic Reviews

Caroline Palmer
February 15, 2012
Caroline Palmer, Minneapolis Star Tribune

A remarkable -- and likely enduring -- tribute to an artist committed to creating dance theater drawn from humanity's deepest physical and emotional reserves. Full Review

Richard Nilsen
February 9, 2012
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic

For anyone with an interest in dance, "Pina" is a must-see. For anyone not interested in contemporary dance, "Pina" is a should-see. It could change your mind. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
February 3, 2012
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Pina is a tribute of an artist by an artist, a friend to a friend. But its great genius comes from the mournful, as well as celebratory, reckoning of the performers Bausch pushed, collaborated with an... Full Review

Stephanie Merry
February 3, 2012
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post

What might seem like a convenient bid for publicity - the first 3-D art-house film! - turns out to be the only logical way to showcase the action. Full Review

Steven Rea
January 26, 2012
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

This meditation on movement and space, transportation and transcendence is not to be missed. Full Review

Ty Burr
January 19, 2012
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

What the filmmaker has created is an inspired simulacrum - a jewel-box that contains more of Bausch's kinetic soul than film has any right to. Full Review

Andrea Gronvall
January 19, 2012
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

Crane and steadycam allow Wenders to get so close to the action that in the minimalist Café Müller, one's illusion of being on stage is uncanny. Full Review

Michael Phillips
January 19, 2012
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"Pina"is the best possible tribute to Bausch, and to adventurous image-making. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 19, 2012
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

I watched the film in a sort of reverie. Full Review

Kenneth Turan
January 12, 2012
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Whether you're familiar with Pina Bausch's work or not, the new film "Pina" is a knockout. Full Review

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