The one and only Wiseman: King of Docs

When I was a college film society junkie back in Ann Arbor many lunar phases ago, I discovered the incendiary work of of American documentarian Frederick Wiseman. Life never was the same after that. "High School" was a terrifying look at that adolescent prison system; "The Store," a close up and personal look backstage at the Dallas Neiman Marcus; and most breathtaking, "Welfare," shot in various east coast welfare offices and featuring a cast of Real People whose faces and voices I can still see in my mind's eye these many years later. He shoots so much footage, and is so unobtrusive, you wonder how he caught such naturalistic behavior.

Now comes his latest, La Danse (Le Ballet de L'Opera de Paris) which is going to arrive at our miraculous Laemmle chain on November 20th. Wiseman's 38th film caresses the lithe and well-limned bodies of dancers in rehearsal, impresarios schmoozing on the phone and stern taskmasters amending the performances of the young terpsichores. It is two-and-a-half hours but goes by in a quick pas de deux.

The delicious choreography of Rudolf Nureyev, Pina Bausch and Mats Ek is featured, offering a panoply of styles from traditional to modern. One of the executives of the ballet company is filmed negotiating access to rehearsals for their deep-pocketed American patrons, all of which we get for the mere price of a movie ticket. Don't miss it.