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Pina [Blu-ray/DVD] [Criterion Collection; 3D]

2 discs
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

Pina Bausch was one of Europe's most celebrated choreographers, fusing the discipline of ballet with the freedom of modern dance and approaching her material in a bold, innovative and emotionally compelling manner. Bausch made the acquaintance of German filmmaker Wim Wenders, and he began making a documentary about her life and work. The focus of Wenders' film shifted dramatically in 2009, when Bausch was diagnosed with cancer and died only a few days later. Wenders considered abandoning the project, but after meeting with the members of her dance company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, Wenders chose instead to create a cinematic interpretation of Bausch's art, preserving several of her pieces and the work of her dancers for the ages. PINA is the result, a performance film that takes several of Bausch's dance pieces into the open and celebrates the beauty and physicality of dance; the film was shot in 3D to give a greater sense of the power and interplay of bodies in motion. PINA received its North American premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
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Critic Reviews

4 stars out of 5 -- "[W]hen the extra-dimensional dancing is afoot, PINA all but spills out of the frame with vim and vigour."
Total Film
"[PINA] points the path to regeneration, by moving dance into strange, suggestive landscapes
Sight and Sound
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[Wenders] visually dramatizes the spaces between the actors by moving his camera on a crane so that the POV places us on the stage and moving among the dancers."
Chicago Sun-Times
"[PINA] takes unprecedented advantage of 3-D....PINA brings new meaning to the notion of a leap of faith, and new immediacy to filmed dance."
Wall Street Journal
"[A] heartfelt -- and visually gorgeous -- celebration of Bausch's work and her mode of working."
Movieline
"[A] marvel, with Wenders making at-times-visionary use of the 3-D technology, treating the frame like a stage with multiple planes of action."
A.V. Club
"PINA is a knockout....The performance documentary takes us inside Bausch's extraordinary dances in a way that nothing else could."
Los Angeles Times
"Wenders uses this old/new interesting/gimmicky technology to play with the human perception of dimensionality as something subtle and profound, and not just a snazzy trick. The result in PINA, is...wow." -- Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] stylish, heartfelt tribute....It's a mood piece more than a conventional documentary..."
Box Office