Friday, September 5, 2014

Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs Gravity (2014)

I believe my original belief or desire was to see a human fly- Elizabeth Streb

You’ll have to forgive me because I really didn’t take many notes regarding Born to Fly mostly I kept staring at the screen and saying OH COOL over and over again. I think those two words kind of sum it all up.

This is a WAY COOL look at Elizabeth Streb and her company of dancers.

The film is a kind of biography of Streb and a look at her company mixed with a history of dance. Along the way we get assorted discussion of why people create, the philosophy of life and other interesting things. This is a film that I really want to visit again when I can curl up with it on a couch and really enjoy it.

I’m not a dance fan. If you took me to a dance performance odds are I’d be bored to tears rather quickly. However when I see dance on film wonderfully shot I perk up. While technically dance Streb’s action insanity is really something else entirely. A wild cross between dance, acrobatics and circus her pieces are the sort of things that boggle the mind as you wonder why no one has died doing any of them- I mean dancing around swinging cinderblocks or I beams? Hanging from bridges? Getting thrown from spinning wheels?

Its wild its crazy it wickedly cool.

Yea I know this isn’t an intellectual discussion of the film- but there are times when emotion trumps reason… There are times when WAY COOL rules.

That should be reason enough to see the film, but if not, if you need a reasoned excuse know that it’s a wonderful look at an artist who is continuously exploring the relationship between man, space and the seeming imposible

Go see this film when it opens of the 10th at the Film Forum

1 comment:

  1. wow so cool! i love things like this! thanks for writing about it. definitely one i will have to check out!

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