Filmmaker Wim Wenders spent two years directing Anselm, a documentary that serves as a gripping and moving retrospective of Kiefer's life and work.
While undoubtedly a powerful confrontation with some of the greatest themes art can tackle — mortality, permanence, being, all the hits — “Anselm” remains an accessible experience, in part because of its manageable length of 93 minutes. minutes and partly because of its endless immersive images. There is no reason why any reasonably curious public should not be able to enjoy its considerable pleasures.
Wenders' palette of documentary themes - ranging from the Buena Vista Social Club to Pina Bausch to Pope Francis - has always suggested a lively and curious mind, but that curiosity has never been more essential than it is here. More a portrait of Kiefer's work than a standard biographical study of Kiefer himself, "Anselm" is a very particular study of the soul of a unique man, told through images of his work, augmented by the sensational use of 3D rendered archives. . There are no tedious interviews with art world luminaries or former professors who claim to have predicted his genius, and this is a blessed absence.
Structurally, the film's organizing principle is a series of explorations of Kiefer's artistic preoccupations during periods spent at different studios, but this is not rigidly imposed. With a lyrical lightness of touch, the seasonal change also marks the passage of time, evoking a sense of time that is more cyclical than linear. Time here is the fourth dimension: while the 3D visuals grab your attention immediately, “Anselm” is a film deeply concerned with chronology and memory. It's moving to find the sunflowers seen at the beginning of the film in a frozen winter field, this time bathed in golden light as a younger version of Kiefer (played by Anton Wenders) tries to walk past them.
There's even something "2001: A Space Odyssey" in the scenes where Kiefer's younger and older incarnations explore ornate but empty rooms in the final act. The effect is intimate, as if we are invading someone else's core memories. This is not a portrait of the artist as a young, middle-aged, or old man: it is each past self overlapping, sometimes literally, as Wenders brilliantly overlaps images to function as eye and mind's eye, simultaneously suggesting what is seen. and thought.
It's easy for films about the importance of creativity to present it as a purely generative act, but Wenders makes room to show how destruction can also be part of the artist's practice. We see Kiefer use flamethrowers to ignite and afflict his materials, and we experience the brutal beauty of molten metal destroying the surfaces Kiefer places it on. Many terrible crimes against cinema have been committed in the name of “immersive” artistry, but this focus on matter helps “Anselm” feel immersive in the best sense: the stereoscopy and sharp focus pokes our noses into the physical texture of the work, while simultaneously pulling us back and forth in time. It's all quite impressive and appealing to the touch, with the 3D rendering of archival footage a particular hit.