Film

Cunningham

Alla Kovgan's *Cunningham* is a 3D documentary about the 20th century's most radical choreographer and his final dancers. Through recreations, archival footage, and spatial filmmaking, it traces how Cunningham divorced movement from music and rewired what dance could be. For anyone curious about how modern art actually gets made, or why Cunningham matters beyond the dance world itself.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love dance seen as pure movement, where the body's shapes and the staging of space matter more than a narrative, and you are curious how a choreographer's working method takes shape on stage.

Skip it if you want a conventional life story with a clear arc and plenty of talking heads; this leans on recreated performances and archive footage, so the emotional pull comes slowly and through the work itself.

What it asks of you: About ninety-three minutes of patient looking. It moves at the pace of rehearsal and performance rather than cutting for effect, so you settle into the images instead of being carried along by them.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Ballets Russes2005

David Moore's documentary about the legendary company that shaped 20th-century dance, with the surviving dancers recounting creation and rivalry. Same DNA of artistic revolution and the humans who lived it.

But Mostly archival and talking heads; less visually inventive than *Cunningham*, which might feel dated in comparison.

Ballets Russes poster

Grey Gardens1976

The Maysles brothers' portrait of two reclusive women in a decaying mansion. Like *Cunningham*, it's a study of eccentric brilliance and artistic obsession, told through intimate observation rather than explanation.

But It's uncomfortable and sad in ways that make you complicit in watching. The film never looks away from decay.

Grey Gardens poster

The Eternal Frame1975

T.R. Uthco and Ant Farm's riotous video art piece remaking the Kennedy assassination as live performance. Same era as Cunningham's peak; same anarchic faith that art can dismantle convention.

But Dated video quality and conceptual art attitudes might seem self-conscious or impenetrable if you're not tuned to that moment.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Cunningham

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sans Soleil1983

Like Cunningham's choreography, *Sans Soleil* trusts the viewer to find connection across fragments. Both remake form itself to match their vision of consciousness and time.

Chris Marker's essay-documentary about memory, cinema, and the world—a meditation on temporality and presence shot through with dry humor and philosophical depth. It's radically formalist yet deeply human.

But It's a collage without linear argument. Viewers expecting documentary exposition or chronology will be frustrated. Requires active interpretation.

Sans Soleil poster
More like this (4)

Phantom Thread2017

Paul Thomas Anderson's film about an obsessive couturier and his creation. It captures the monomania of artistic genius, the toll on collaborators, and why that genius still matters—themes woven through *Cunningham*.

But It's operatic and slow. If you want plot momentum, this favors mood over incident.

Phantom Thread poster

Man with a Movie Camera1929

Dziga Vertov's silent montage-documentary about urban life and cinema itself. A foundational experiment in what non-narrative film can do—ancestor to *Cunningham*'s visual ambition.

But Silent, black-and-white, and densely edited. It demands close attention and rewards it, but not everyone enjoys that kind of active viewing.

Man with a Movie Camera poster

O.J.: Made in America2016

Ezra Edelman's sprawling documentary about celebrity, power, and narrative. A monument to what documentary can hold; proof that the form can sustain complexity and weight.

But At 467 minutes across five episodes, it's a commitment. The story is heavy and sometimes painful, and length alone is a barrier.

O.J.: Made in America poster

Only Lovers Left Alive2013

Both are meditations on how artists live, create, and age. Both use space, music, and human movement to express something beyond words.

Jim Jarmusch's film about immortal lovers and artistic exhaustion, paced like a slow waltz through decades. It has Cunningham's aesthetic control and his interest in how bodies move through time and space with intention.

But It's glacially paced and offers minimal plot. If you watch for story, it will feel like nothing happens. The pleasure is entirely in texture and mood.

Only Lovers Left Alive poster

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