A personal universe that is compelling and visually astonishing.
An intriguing and compelling documentary that provides insight into Kiefer's artwork.
Near dialogue free, it’s more intent on submerging us (with weighty, esoteric calm) in welding, paint-smattering and glass-smashing than explaining what drove creator Anselm Kiefer to leave his native Germany and dedicate himself to it.
Ah, I wanted to sigh: how much 21st-century German miserabilism will it take to make up for 20th-century German misery-making?
The tortured, lugubrious creations of the German artist Anselm Keifer (born 1945) are given a mesmerising showcase in Sophie Fiennes's documentary.
The film’s commitment to letting these pieces stake their own claim on the attention is impressive, and yet – there’s no non-Philistine way to say this – the running time is almost twice what you ideally want it to be.
The images are eerily beautiful and the film as a whole is strangely hypnotic.
The film does provide a surprisingly poetic picture of the inelegant process sometimes required to create beautiful things.
A film to be watched, if at all, in a gallery, not a cinema.
A remarkable film, though of rather specialist interest.
Sophie Fiennes interview for Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow
General release. Check local listings for show times.