Anselm

This movie offers a poetic interpretation of Anslem Kieffer's illustrious career, steering away from the rigid confines of a hardcore informative documentary. For those already acquainted with Kieffer's artistic journey, this film may not unravel new layers of information, but it promises a captivating and immersive experience that goes beyond the boundaries of conventional biographical narratives. As we delve into the intricacies of this unique cinematic venture, we find that it transcends the traditional documentary format, inviting viewers to engage with Kieffer's world on a profoundly emotional and artistic level.

Anslem Kieffer, a renowned artist known for his thought-provoking and evocative works, becomes the central focus of this film. Rather than adopting a fact-driven approach to recounting his life, the filmmakers opt for a more creative and subjective lens, weaving together a tapestry of visual and auditory elements that mirror the essence of Kieffer's artistry. Through this poetic rendering, the film seeks to capture the spirit and emotions that fuel Kieffer's creative process, providing viewers with a visceral connection to the artist and his oeuvre.

What makes Anslem interesting? Is it the art he crafts? His thought-provoking nature, or the brilliance of his mind and ways? With beautiful camerawork, musical score and interesting observations, this documentary navigates an well-executed poetic documentary story about Anslem's work. Diving deep into his work, the poetic nature, and style, Filmmaker Wim Wenders crafts one of his best documentary works in quite some time with absolutely great direction and atmospheres approached throughout within the setting.

That goes without some flaws as with the documentary being more focused on the works rather then Anselm, I wished Wenders applied a little more examination about Anselm himself which would have helped crafted a more personal examination of Anselm and understanding of his works.

But overall, with Perfect Days, I am glad to see Wenders is back again.

"Anselm" by Wim Wenders shows us Impressive images of Anselm Kiefer's work and his creativity in creating those. The shots from the studio in Barjac, France, are particularly great, even though I saw the film in the 2D version. Towards the end the documentary falls off a bit (Venice scenes).

Overall, I still was a bit disappointed. Although you see many of the artist's works, you learn practically nothing about the artist himself, what I expected. What drives him, who he is, how he became an artist. The difficulties and challenges. I now have to research about him online myself to learn more about the person as the movie was more like an artist catalogue showing off the artwork - but this was beautifully done.

Win Wenders is a German filmmaker with a prolific career of decades of daring features as well as acclaimed documentaries. Wender has been nominated 3 times for the Best Documentary Features Oscar: Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Pina (2011) and Salt of the Earth (2014). They are progressively better and the last one of the three should have won. It is one of the best docs I have ever seen. This new doc is not as good as the last, but worth a serious watch. It could have been nominated for its thematic exploration and better than Buena Vista Social Club in my eye. Maybe it got overlooked because it is not as perfect as Perfect Days (2023), his feature film of the same year which got Best Foreign

Instead of doing focused biographies of musicians, a dancer and a photographer, Wender examines with Anselm a visual and fine art (plastic art) icon who grew from drawings, paintings, photos to sculptures and massive productions. Anselm Keifer moved from and eventually bought bigger and bigger workshops to accomodate ambitious projects with over 40 assistants.

The art shines, especially in the controversial photography series with the Nazi salute to put a mirror in front of the German amnesia The movie shines with its well planned cinematography and the storytelling, including the writing that hits it stride in the last 20 minutes. The beginning is bogged down by Paul Celan's lackluster poetry and perhaps a lack of focus and fluid momentum.

If Celan's work was certainly a strong influence for Keifer, it did not translate well in the movie. I would have preferred another construct or toget more personal,including exploring family like in The Salt of the Earth. Keifer has 5 children and 2 ex-wives who are never mentioned for instance, yet it may be for lack of permission of people or because of the strong contrast between young, older and present day Anselm that might have been affected by other actors and taking away from the artistic pursuit focus.. in the end,it comes with a solid dose of solitude.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being as Milan Knndera influences Keifer better than Celan. The inevitability of death looms with the unending creation and curiosity, Besides a few less suitable cues, this movies shines in the end with a strong vision, message, execution, contemplation, creativity and details.

Symbolism is strong. Brilliant connectors are many. Think also that Wenders and Keifer are born in the same year (1945) and same country. They both started their world-renown art in the early 1970s and are as dedicated to it over fifty years later. Parallel worlds like the 3 Anselms.

Wim Wender does a documentary on famous german artist Anselm Kiefer and like his Pina Bausch documentary in 3D. Unlike "Pina" which really benefited from the 3D, because dance is an art form where space is important, you don't need to watch "Anselm" in 3D.

The first 70 minutes are very impressive shots of Kiefers vast former studio complex at Barjac and of Kiefer artworks. Intercut with contemporary media reports and recreated scene from his childhood (played by Wenders son) and the beginning of his career (played by Kiefers son). All of this is very good, Wenders let's the images convey the connections between work and life and other inspirations. Everything is filmed and staged nicely. But in the last 20 minutes the actor playing childhood Kiefer climbs into Kiefers big 2022 Venice exhibition where the real Kiefer is also present. And what follows is 20 minutes of a visual metaphor so flat and obvious every first semester art film student would be too embarrassed to put that into his film. Do yourself a favor: once St Mark's Square in Venice shows up flee the cinema.

Ps. Last years documenta scandal looks even weirder once you get reminded that Anselm Kiefer started his career with a photo series of him traveling the world and doing Hitler salutes in his father's Wehrmacht uniform. While last year germany's biggest art exhibition was branded as a whole antisemitic because of a single motive within one huge "Where is Wally"-like work.