Absolute Wilson

Not to be missed! Enthralling! Full of astonishing beauty, wit and dazzling, disorienting strangeness - Elle

Featuring Robert Wilson, Susan Sontag, Philip Glass and David Byrne

ABSOLUTE WILSON is a richly provocative and moving portrait of one of the most visionary theater artists of our time. The film delivers a surprisingly candid look at Robert Wilson the man, who drops his characteristic reticence and speaks with astonishing candor about his personal life: his troubled and lonely childhood as the son of the Mayor of Waco, Texas; his early learning disabilities; his work with disabled children using therapy as a tool for artistic expression; his departure from Texas at the time of his coming out and his fascination with the downtown New York avant-garde scene of the late 60s. What emerges is a life full of impressions, colors and rhythms, making it all the more poignant how Wilson's early hardships ultimately shaped his ground-breaking aesthetic vision, creating some of the most historic theatre and opera productions of the twentieth century. All told, it is a remarkable tale of a shy, stuttering boy's triumph over adversity. Otto-Bernstein's portrait offers a rare and insightful glimpse into the man behind the genius: in equal amounts exhilarating, shocking, transformative, and ultimately, very human, it may be Wilson's most enduring impression on us all. (2006, 105m)

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Robert Wilson Wikipedia Entry
Robert Wilson website
Critic's Choice, Chicago Reader
Chicago Tribune review
Tip of the Week, New City