Frances Ha by Noah Baumbach, 2012 (R)

with Greta Gerwig (To Rome With Love), Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Esper (All Good Things), Patrick Heusinger, Charlotte d'Amboise, Hannah Dunne, Grace Gummer, Josh Hamilton, Cindy Katz, Maya Kazan, Justine Lupe, Britta Phillips, Juliet Rylance, Dean Wareham, Michael Zegen

Determined to make it as a modern dancer in New York, Frances pursues her unlikely goal with more enthusiasm than natural talent. The rest of the time, she and her sardonic best friend, Sophie, put off growing up for as long as they can.

This is one of the cutest movie I have seen in a long while, although also the one where I felt the most uncomfortable, thanks to the awkwardness of the main character. Strangely, you still admire her and her wise spirit, her freedom. All of her is a perfect contradiction. The other characters are interesting, but Greta Gerwig steals the movie in her beautiful and realistic portrayal of a dancer surviving New York. Also, this is one of the only movie I have ever seen that reflects New York as an artist can experience it.

Watch trailer:

Pina by Wim Wenders, 2011 (3D)

with Pina Bausch Dance Company

Wim Wenders uses 3D technology to arresting effect in this performance documentary about Pina Baussch's Tanztheater Wuppertal dance company. Performing in the streets and parks of Wuppertal, Germany, the troupe's pieces include "The Rite of Spring."

The movie has to be watched in the right condition, perhaps choose the best seat of the room, in a cinema that provides comfortable 3D glasses. It does make a difference. Also, it is not a movie about Pina Bausch seeing Pina Bausch. It is all through the eyes of the members of her company, through their movements and through their words, which are clearly separated from one to the others, in an odd manner. The choreographies are staged indoor and outdoor, in unusual locations, beautiful. The feeling of three dimensions is interesting, since it feels as close as it could with today's technology from watching a real dance performance. It is a journey also through the generations and it has something powerful in the definition of time. Knowing that the company will dissolve in two years make the movie even more relevant as a photography of an era, represented by all from the pioneers to the youngest, still all dancing, and defined by a time of death, which is the point where Pina Bausch ends.