‘Cunningham’ Film Review: 3D Dance Documentary Celebrates Revolutionary Choreographer

Not every performance piece in Alla Kovgan’s film works on the big screen, but the ones that do make this a must-see for dance enthusiasts

Cunningham
Martin Miseré/Magnolia

Alla Kovgan’s “Cunningham” is a documentary that stages excerpts from some of Merce Cunningham’s most representative dances in 3D, and these 3D dances take up about one third of the film’s 90-minute running time. They are often exciting but sometimes frustrating, and Cunningham himself makes for an enigmatic subject.

Cunningham made dances that were built around an ideal of freedom and possibility — one of his favorite words — but with dark underpinnings. He rehearsed them without music, and he was not too interested in costumes or sets. Cunningham was dedicated to pure movement, which meant that he was not concerned with what his dances could mean to others on the level of interpretation or narrative; his best work involves a series of movements so unexpected that they cause a kind of jolt to the senses.

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