Anselm (PG)

★★★★ "Wim Wenders brings a certain awe, or even shock, or even a kind of reverently docu-dramatised PTSD to his film about the German artist Anselm Kiefer." ~ The Guardian.

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Anselm Kiefer is one of the greatest contemporary artists. His past and present are interwoven to diffuse the line between film and painting: a unique cinematic experience directed by Wim Wenders that dives deep into an artist’s work and reveals his life path.  

Anselm treats the audience to an exclusive, front row seat to watch the artist at work. Mining cultural texts and Kiefer’s personal history, the film contextualises his life’s work, while taking the audience on an experiential voyage of discovery. Textual pleasures become vivid before our eyes, as we watch Kiefer roam through his enormous warehouse filled with his art, and the objects he uses to make it. We watch as he creates his monumental artworks using lead, concrete, glass, textiles, plant material, books and fire. 

For over two years, Wenders traced Kiefer’s path from his native Germany to his current home in France, connecting the stages of his life to the essential places of his phenomenal career that spans more than five decades. The result is a profound study of the artist’s work, which explores human existence and the cyclical nature of history, inspired by literature, poetry, philosophy, science, mythology and religion. 

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★★★★ A reminder that true artists use technology to deepen the story, rather than making technology into the story. Wenders deploys 3D like a painter using a certain colour. ~ Time Out.