Anselm (2023, Wim Wenders) (Patreon)

62/100

Like Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a documentary that genuinely benefits from 3-D (such that my rating would likely be significantly lower had I seen it "flat"). This isn't a biographical portrait of Anselm Kiefer but a tactile exploration of his work, organized by the physical spaces in which he created various pieces—a virtual tour, basically, just as Herzog's Cave was. Wenders' conception is more ambitious than that, incorporating interludes in which actors (Kiefer's son; Wenders' grandson, presumably) silently embody Kiefer at younger ages in various tableaux; there are also plentiful references to and direct quoting of the poet Paul Celan, an aspect that the film's oblique approach arguably fails to make fully clear (though you get the gist). Can't honestly say I ever got very interested in the man himself, but that's fine, since Anselm largely consists of Wenders' camera curiously orbiting his gargantuan paintings and sculptures and possibly installations, I'm not a fine-art guy. Occasionally, we see him at work, which can look like destruction rather than creation—putting the finishing "touches" on one canvas involves the most prolonged use of a flamethrower since Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. Mostly, though, we're just examining completed objects, virtually all of which seek to impose themselves upon the spectator with real force and thus benefit enormously from a stereoscopic presentation. Having been previously ignorant of Kiefer (didn't see Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow), I find some of his ideas a tad kitschy—the artist's palette with enormous wings dates back to the '80s, seems rooted in the worst of the '60s—and question the rhetorical utility of his photo series in which he performed the Nazi salute in front of various world landmarks ("Never forget" via deliberate provocation, sure, but maybe find some means that an actual neo-Nazi wouldn't employ). But just as I appreciated the opportunity to spend some virtual time in the Chauvet Cave, I was happy to hang out in Kiefer's workshops, none of which I'm ever likely to visit in person. Try to see it with the glasses, if you can.