Year: 1983
Director: Chantal Akerman
Country: France
Language: French
"This film is more than a documentary on Pina Bausch," a narrator announces at the beginning, "it is a journey through her world, through her unwavering quest for love." Bausch, who died in 2009, can be considered one of the greatest choreographers of modern dance. Among her many accomplishments, she pioneered a unique style drawn from the German theatrical dance tradition known as tanztheate. This documentary was created by another great female; filmmaker Chantal Akerman.
In One Day Pina Asked... we follow famous Choreographer Pina Bausch and her company of dancers, The Tanzteater Wuppertal, for five weeks while they were on tour in Germany, Italy and France.
Chantal Akerman captures the company's rehearsals and performances. She interviews various members, who Pina chose not only for their talents, but their intelligence as well. The dancers describe their various dances, and explain that many themes are quite autobiographical. Excerpts of Komm Tanz Mit Mir (Come Dance with Me), Nelken (Carnations), Walzer, and 1980 are shown to give us a better understanding of the talent involved.
A great companion piece to Wim Wenders' Pina (2011), a full length documentary which also shows the genius of Pina's work, One Day Pina Asked... is a remarkable film that shows us a glimpse into the amounts of mental and physical energy Pina and her performers put into a seemingly long tour. Indeed many of the dances are quite creative, I especially found myself entranced by Come Dance With Me
This would have been a great bonus feature on Criterion's blu-ray release of Wim Wenders' Pina. They both make a great double feature. Granted, One Day Pina Asked...is a good film on its own, it's more intimate and intense than Wenders'. It does a good job at painting a portrait of the artist in its very short run-time.
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