Absolute Wilson

Robert Wilson may be an artists' artist. That is, his avant-garde creativity is especially appealing to other creative people. His work may not be quite as approachable for the average person and doesn't really fit into a mass market art world. That is why you may not have heard of him or seen any of his work. Absolute Wilson gives us a chance to see glimpses of his work and, more importantly, meet an interesting man.

His works often have an amazing scope. He once directed a play in Iran that took place twenty-four hours a day for seven days. His planned play for the Los Angeles Olympics Arts Festival was to be twelve hours in six parts and involve several different nations. He has worked with dancers and with opera singers and with music as diverse as Philip Glass, David Byrne, and Tom Waits. Depending on your perspective, he might be called visionary or pretentious. But his work is certainly far from ordinary.

However, the person we meet in the film seems very much like someone you might meet on the street and like. There are things about him that one might even find admirable. He grew up as the son of the mayor of Waco, Texas. It was a restrictive setting for him. That restrictiveness took on a physical manifestation in a stutter. Eventually, a dance teacher told him to just slow down -- not just speaking, but everything. That slowing down gave him a new perspective on life -- and helped get rid of his stutter.

In the clips of his works that are included in the film, we see a bit of this slowing down. Body movement is an integral part of his plays. All of his works are built around the physical presence of those on stage.

He has a certain affinity for those who are outsiders. While in school he worked with hyperactive children by giving them movement therapy -- just getting them to move around in various ways. Later he took in a deaf and mute boy who had no way of communication. He also worked with an autistic child of a friend in ways to bring new life to the boy through art. The way he shares art with these children with various handicaps is not so much giving them art as therapy, but giving them the life that is inherent in art.

It is that idea of life found in art that is central to this film. It is not so much about the creative process as it is about how Wilson's life is bound in his art and the way he keeps finding new ways to express the life that comes out in his art. It is through his work and the work he facilitates in others that his life is seen. I'm not sure if the correct way of viewing the connection is that life is art or that art is life. Perhaps the answer to the choice is a simple "yes".

The ironic part of the film is that as you watch it, you know this is not the kind of film that Wilson would make himself. It is a very conventional documentary with interviews with talking heads (including one of The Talking Heads), film clips of his works, and vintage photos from his early life.