At this summer’s Flaherty Seminar I found myself in a debate regarding Fredrick Wiseman’s approach. A film scholar I was having lunch with attempted to convince me that by taking an “eye of god approach” – selectively focusing his camera to calling attention to that one thing in a large room, Wiseman is narcissist .
Wiseman’s use of long takes allow us to soak up the atmosphere of the institutions he studies, at times these work can be architectural; a study of physical space as in La Dance – le ballet de l’Opera de Paris, his last film about the Paris Opera Ballet. Here the space is more intimate, emerging within the walls of Lord’s Gym, Wiseman’s 38th feature length documentary are characters and stories framed by modern history.
The film was shot in 2008 and put on ice while Wiseman shifted his attention shooting and editing La Dance. Filming at Richard Lord’s boxing gym in Austin, TX the film presents a warm and colorful atmosphere. Lord is welcoming to athletes on all skill levels and a serious dedication, there are no egos.
As in La Dance there is a focus on the movement of the body – punching a speed bag, skipping rope and running. Wiseman’s approach and this setting allows for some character development: Lord accepts and trains virtually everyone imaginable from working mothers and young man with prizefighter ambition.
What we get here are conversations, one grounds the film in 2008 as a man tells a friend about a young women he knows that was shot at Virginia Tech. Wiseman’s films are traditionally timeless, that is they preserve time within the institution from the creaky pipes of the building housing the Paris Opera Ballet to the veterinarian procedures in Zoo: not much changes. Here colorful characters are framed against tireless dedication within a known time.
9 out of 10