Absolute Wilson
Filmmaker Katharina Otto-Bernstein offers a detailed look into the world of avant-garde theater icon Robert Wilson, whose visionary works and collaborations with such varied artists as Philip Glass, Allen Ginsberg, and Tom Waits have established him as one of the world's most respected theater artists. From his early childhood in Waco, TX, to his influential work with the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds to his internationally acclaimed "Einstein on the Beach" collaboration with Glass, his ill-fated +CIVIL WarS performance, and the +Black Rider collaboration with Waits that would later vindicate the failure of +CIVIL WarS, Otto-Bernstein takes a linear look at Wilson's life and career while also offering informative interviews with the artist's many collaborators and, of course, extensive conversations with the man himself.
Director: Katharina Otto-Bernstein
Impressive as is Wilson's output and oeuvre, it's the fully-engaged, aesthetically driven life that fascinates. And Otto-Bernstein's movie is a portrait of an artist at his most essential, in every sense.
Surprisingly square portrait of avant-garde artist and director Robert Wilson.
Not only does this film offer a comprehensive portrait of a fascinating and underexplored leader of the American avant-garde in the late 20th Century, it ends up making some compelling connections between his works and the rich, occasionally self-destructive trajectory of the life that forged them.
There is plenty of substance in Absolute Wilson, as it provides a concise and absorbing portrait of a powerful creative personality.
The film penetrates the myth and mythos surrounding Wilson, making his works more accessible and open to those of us who sometimes puzzle over the methods and meanings in his cerebral, psychologically complex expressionism. The film should engender an art house following in sophisticated urban venues before its HBO broadcast.
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