Pina
Sundance Selects | Release Date: December 23, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonFeb 10, 2012
The result, Pina, is the most spirited and spectacular film about dance since Robert Altman's "The Company." Read full review
100
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanFeb 8, 2012
Most documentaries put us inside people's heads. The dazzling, experimental Pina puts us inside people's feet. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJan 26, 2012
The real 3-D experience of the season is Pina, Wim Wenders' shockingly beautiful and moving tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallJan 19, 2012
The movie he (Wenders) went on to make with her Tanztheater Wuppertal is more than an elegy; his meticulous use of 3D endows the performances with a corporeality and intimacy hitherto unseen in a dance film. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 19, 2012
In both theatrical environments and open-air ones, with Wenders paying close attention to the geometrics as well as the psychology of the movement, Pina is the best possible tribute to Bausch, and to adventurous image-making. Read full review
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirJan 4, 2012
You don't have to know the first thing about modern dance to be transported to an alternate state of consciousness by Pina, which is utterly free of Wenders' cloying sentimentality (perhaps because it's an elegy for a dead friend) and might be the first of his films I've loved all the way through since his 1987 masterpiece, "Wings of Desire." Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJan 4, 2012
The result, in Pina, is...wow. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJan 14, 2012
Whether you're familiar with Pina Bausch's work or not, the new film Pina is a knockout. Read full review
90
VarietyLeslie FelperinDec 21, 2011
Offering further proof that the latest 3D technology is good for a lot more than just lunging knives and fantastical storylines, Wim Wenders' dance docu Pina reps multidimensional entertainment that will send culture vultures swooning. Read full review
90
MovielineStephanie ZacharekDec 21, 2011
What's remarkable about Pina is how democratic it is, how casual it is about opening up the world of modern dance to people who know, or perhaps care, little about it. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesFeb 9, 2012
Excepting the occasional shot that forces the eye on a particular dancer, Wenders largely films the action in a way that re-creates the effect of attending a performance in a proscenium theatre – only without having to scrabble for the best seat in the house. No matter where you are, you're already in it. Read full review
88
Washington PostStephanie MerryFeb 2, 2012
The result is a panorama of emotion, in which one dancer exhibits pure joy and another severe aching. As Bausch notes early in the film, words alone cannot describe something, nor can dance. One medium has to pick up where the last has left off. The disembodied words seem to get to the heart of that idea. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 18, 2012
I watched the film in a sort of reverie. The dancers seemed particularly absorbed. They had performed these dances many times before, but always with Pina Bausch present. Now they were on their own, in homage. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJan 26, 2012
Pina, so exquisitely made and filled with such powerful beauty, suggests thrilling new possibilities for the marriage of movies and dance. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 7, 2012
You may not feel like dancing after watching Pina – unless you have a thing for earth in your shoes – but you'll certainly know you've seen something. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnDec 22, 2011
Pina is a beautiful, heartfelt ode and a delicious feast for the eyes, but not an essential work of art on its own terms. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRichard NilsenFeb 9, 2012
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. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 12, 2012
The images captured by the film - dancers in theatrical sets, dancers in surreal exterior settings - are deeply scary for their loneliness and pain, and crazily thrilling for the intensity of their joy. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungDec 21, 2011
Wim Wenders' stylish 3D mirrors the bizarrely captivating world of choreographer Pina Bausch. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 21, 2011
This isn't the kind of doc to explain everything (or anything, really)-it does honor its subject, though, and that's plenty. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonDec 21, 2011
Pina gives us the supreme pleasure of watching fascinating bodies of widely varying ages in motion, whether leaping, falling, catching, diving, grieving, or exulting. Wenders's expert use of 3-D puts viewers up close to the spaces, both psychic and physical, inside and out, of Bausch's work. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDec 12, 2011
What is unambiguous is the campaign that Pina mounts, with joy and without fuss, against age discrimination; by law, the film should be screened, on a monthly basis, for Hollywood casting agents. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 19, 2012
Where Pina excels - where it resembles no previous dance film - is in the staging of several of Bausch's signature works for Wenders's cameras. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoDec 23, 2011
It's the dancing that makes Pina a visual delight. It should appeal to dance mavens, and to folks who have no idea what a pas de deux is. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Guy DixonDec 21, 2011
Bausch's work, as performed by her dance company Tanztheater Wuppertal, is shot exactingly by Wenders, who captures everything from the largest gestures to the subtlest facial nuances in ways impossible in 2-D – and of course in far closer detail than seeing the dances performed live. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineWade MajorFeb 1, 2012
It's a mood piece more than a conventional documentary and it should do comfortably above average business on the theatrical documentary circuit, particularly given its location on the list of Oscar nominated documentaries. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 22, 2011
The cumulative effect is exhilarating and also a bit frustrating, since so many dances are included and woven together the audience does not have the chance to experience any single work in its entirety. But the power and intelligence of Bausch's approach, which at times seems more cerebral than sensual, is communicated. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayDec 22, 2011
It's also representative of Pina's major flaw: the inability of artists to get out of their own way. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 2, 2012
While Pina will undoubtedly be well-received by modern-dance devotees, it does little to take advantage of the enormous opportunity to open the door for newcomers. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 22, 2011
The film is best suited for dance buffs excited by an unexpected congregation of artistic pioneers. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid HughesOct 18, 2011
It's a surprise to see Wim Wenders embracing 3D in its full, feature-length glory but the medium works well to capture the graceful swirl of the German choreographer's work. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyOct 18, 2011
Go after Pina and you're going to have to go through a mob of modern-dance zealots first. Read full review
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