Absolute Wilson
by Katharina Otto-Bernstein
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, Susan SontagDirector: Katharina Otto-Bernstein
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Yorker Video
DVD Reviews of Absolute Wilson
DVD Review: absolutely relative
Summary: 5 Stars
Last time I have seen Robert Wilson is at the 2008 Spoleto Festival where his Hamlet was presented on video. It was shown at the end of a conference where he spoke about his first experiences in avant-gard theatre before introducing his Hamlet. These first experiences are the ones on which this documentary focuses as well since they are the most significant. The most intriguing one is definitely Deafman Glance. It is a silent opera built around the fantasies of a deaf-mute african-american kid that Wilson adopted after he defended him from the harassment of a policeman in 1967. Wilson talked about it at his conference in Spoleto. Before leaving, his last words were Hamlet last words "the rest is silence". When he went back to the stage to thank the audience he said that he had very good news since Barach Obama made the decision of buying a little white dog before entering the White House.
There is a sense of tragic and absurd and at the same time a sense of hope in Wilson theatre which is rendered in this dvd.
DVD Review: Entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
Interesting doco about an artist not known to me.
It broadens mind and entertains.
DVD Review: Genius of Modern Theater
Summary: 5 Stars
If you don't know Robert Wilson's work you don't know what genius you are missing. Many people know him principally through his work with Philip Glass on 'Einstein on the Beach'. But there is indeed a great deal more.
This is a balanced overview of the work of one of the finest and most innovative dramatists of the 20th Century. His is a theater of images and artistic collaboration.
Wilson has worked with the likes of Philip Glass, Tom Waits, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and many more. He has written plays, produced other's plays, produced opera and worked with sculpture and other visual media.
This is a fascinating, sensitive and unique artist whose work deserves to be better known. Despite his work being in demand and receiving critical acclaim there is relatively little written about him. He is hardly a househould name. And this film does an admirable job of showing us the depth and breadth of this man's work. Hopefully it will make him more familiar to the public at large and insert his name into the common discourse.
A great film which does justice to a great man.
Description of Absolute Wilson
An excellent introduction to Wilson's singular vision. --Jonathan Rosenbaum, THE CHICAGO READER
Absorbing. --A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES
ABSOLUTE WILSON chronicles the epic life, times and creative genius of Robert Wilson, intimately revealing for the first time one of the most controversial and rule-breaking artists of our era. His revolutionary stage work has so altered our concept of theater that, as David Byrne says, 'It makes... other theater look hopelessly old-fashioned.' The sheer scope of Wilson's output, the prior unavailability of visual records, and his own personal privacy have given him an elusiveness that is thoroughly dissolved by this fascinating, full-access portrait. At the film's center is Wilson himself. A riveting screen presence, Wilson speaks with unprecedented candor about his life. Nothing is left in the shadows, as he discusses his restrictive upbringing, his therapeutic work with disabled children, his departure from small-town Texas at the time of his coming out as well as his experiences in the New York avant-garde scene of the 1960s. More than a biography, the film becomes an exhilarating exploration of the transformative power of creativity itself and the inspirational tale of a shy, stuttering boy who grew up to become a fearless artist with a profoundly original perspective to share with the world.
Katharina Otto-Bernstein's book ABSOLUTE WILSON: THE BIOGRAPHY, published by Prestel, is available online, including at Amazon.com, and select retail locations. For more information on ABSOLUTE WILSON, the documentary and the book, visit http://www.absolutewilson.com.
DVD Details: USA/Germany, 2006, 105 minutes, Color, Region 1, NTSC, Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, In English; Special Features: extended interviews with Robert Wilson, Philip Glass and Susan Sontag; Robert Wilson's film The House (1965. 19 minutes. B&W. Silent.); interview with director Katharina Otto-Bernstein; contemporary vignettes about Robert Wilson's working methods; theatrical trailer; scene selections; closed captioning; liner notes with a Robert Wilson timeline and director's bio.
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