Tag Archives: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Outtakes

See This in 3D While You Can

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Cave of Forgotten Dreams

by George Wolf

Thursday, March 5th, as part of the “Essential 3D” series at the Wexner Center, film fans in Columbus get a great chance to see this again in 3D – truly a remarkable experience. Below is my review that first ran in 2011.

 

Seldom has a film transported an audience back in time as effectively as Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

The time is over 30,000 years ago, and the place is France’s historic Chauvet Cave, home of the earliest known recorded visions in human history.

The cave was discovered in 1994, and the French government has been impressively careful with its treatment. A small scientific team is granted access for two weeks twice a year – and then for only a few hours each day. Not only are the cave’s radon and carbon dioxide levels dangerous to humans, but too many human breaths can produce mold inside the cave’s pristine setting.

Last year, writer/director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) was granted permission to take a small production crew inside, and the result leaves you grasping at superlatives.

Breathtaking. Stupendous. Exhilarating. Awe-inspiring.

Herzog films in 3-D, reminding you the technique can be so much more than a gimmick to sell kid’s movies. You feel the depth of the cave, the breadth of its reach and the beautiful contours of its walls, adorned with the work of incredibly sophisticated artists. Herzog’s camera lingers as the art from tens of thousands of years ago speaks to you so loudly you may find yourself holding your breath.

When Herzog mixes the prehistoric findings with the futuristic testing methods of the science team, he creates a wonderful merging of past and future that raises questions not only about where humankind has been, but where it is going.

Hopefully, it will be going to see this film.

 

Verdict-5-0-Stars

 

 

 

For Your Queue, Slider

For Your Queue: 5 star 3D Docs

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By Hope and George

 

As Werner Herzog reminded us with last year’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, 3D has the power to redefine cinema in the hands of a truly inspired director. This time around Wim Wenders finds inspiration in iconic modern dancer/choreographer Pina Bausch. His transcendent documentary is Pina, available this week for your queue. Whether or not you have the wherewithal to see either filmmaker’s jump to the small screen in its 3D version, both are must see documentaries.

A spectacle from the word go, Pina surrounds you with the modern dance masterpieces of the deceased choreographer, cutting periodically to briefer pieces composed by Pina’s devoted dancers in honor of their departed maestro. Wenders’s camera takes you inside the dance, surrounding you in movements manifesting everything from whimsy to absurdity to joy to savage grace. His film is as adoring a tribute as you’ll find, but it also serves as a welcome initiation for many to the work of perhaps the greatest modern dance choreographer in history.

And what the heck, just make it a double feature with Herzog’s absolutely stunning look inside the Chauvet caves in France. Preserved with great care by the French government, the caves are home to the oldest pictorial art in the history of humankind.

Herzog and his film crew were granted a small window of unprecedented access to showcase the caves and their portal to a time roughly 30,000 years ago. The result almost defies description, as you not only witness art of an incredibly sophisticated nature, but hear intimate echoes of this ancient civilization.