Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach Vol. 3, Struggle for Hope / Six Gestures (1998)

"Struggle for Hope" (55 min.) features Bach's Suite No. 5 for Unaccompanied Cello. Master Kabuki actor Tamasaburo Bando sets out on a journey to discover, through traditional Japanese dance, the universality and emotion of Bach's Fifth Suite. The result is this revelatory, cross-cultural and trans-oceanic collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, sensitively documented by filmmaker Niv Fichman. "Six Gestures" (53 min.) features Bach's Suite No. 6 for Unaccompanied Cello. Bach and ice dance? Yo-Yo Ma believes that world champion ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have done for their sport what Bach did for the cello--that is, to dramatically redefine the artistic possibilities and to shatter all preconceptions. This mesmerizing film by Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park) explores the outcome of this unlikely collaboration, with Bach himself as the dramatic counterpoint.

yo-yo ma - inspired by bach no.6 Six gestures (cello suite 6)

Lovely concept, lovely performances, lovely joining with Torvill and Dean. July 5, 2006

Art as Rorschach Test of an Artist

I came to this after seeing Bando in Seijun Suzuki's YUMEJI (1991.) If the great filmmaker adores kabuki enough to get its biggest onnagata (male performer in female roles) star into a male role, what's Bando like in his natural habitat?

After the mutual admiration/love-fest in the beginning, Yo-yo ma and Bando get down to work. Ma has a personal agenda of reliving the tie he had with his deceased father through the Bach piece, with another prestigious artist. Bando wants to personalize the collaboration only as far as it frees him from the usual narrative constraints of his kabuki plays (this is apparent when Ma tries to link Bando's adoption by the prestigious kabuki community to loss of his own father, and Bando saw it -- like his collaboration with Ma -- as fulfilling his destiny of kabuki actor, not a family tragedy.)

Even though director Fichman sets it up as another divisive "East vs. West", "Male vs. Woman" piece of "art", soon we see the real show is in Bando translating Bach through his emotive movements that use gender as expression, not as a set biological fact. Meanwhile, Ma is suspended in his own intact world of cello-playing, ending his interaction with Bando (including eye contact!) at the development stage.

This is fascinating for anyone interested in the creative process: Ma seizes on a set idea and doesn't let go; he even interprets Bando's "performing for the heavens" not as the idea of human-universe unity, but as the Greco-Roman concept of Dionysian. At that point Bando "snaps" back "Don't think too much", and we see artists retreating back to their individual corners, out of their initial love affair-through-interpreter!

Bando truly is a fearless artist, unafraid to use what he already knows walking into unfamiliar territory of solo performance to someone else's emotional objectives. He comes up with a basic, technical pattern of movements for each piece in the 6-part suite, but goes above them to add the instinctive, emotional qualities of each theme. The most brilliant accomplishments of the 6 are the Bresson/Tarkovsky-like intensity of piece #4, "Prayer", and the amusing & lively #5 "Dream" -- which Dali & the Surrealists could learn from. Bando's "Dream" is neither a good one, nor a nightmare. It's just dreaming itself as rollicking, delicate motions like striking memories without control over the direction & speed of its consciousness. Brilliant stuff that pushes an art form beyond the usual level. August 4, 2004

Region error

As a newbie to this site and buying DVDs over the Internet, it is not at all apparent that these DVDs will not work in my region of AUSTRALIA. There should be a CLEAR notification that these are region 1 only for the USA. In fact, it ought to be easy to have the software automatically issue a warning to purchasers outside the DVD region that the discs may not operate in other regions! May 20, 2002

Amazing blend of music and visuals

Although I agree with a previous reviewer that I could have done without the Bach impersonation, otherwise I couldn't disagree more with the negative reviews. As a fan of both figure skating and classical music, I feel that this is a perfect synthesis of both, with the addition of some exciting and innovative cinematography. It is a joy both to view and to hear; I will probably keep returning to it for years. February 13, 2002

Great Music covers up for a lackluster movie

I am a huge fan of Bach's 6 cello suite and have played it for years, and I thought Yo-yo Ma's performance was probably the best I've heard/seen since the legendary Pablo Cassal released it in the early 1900s. I liked the way Yo-yo was put into various places and interacted with things around him.

Unfortunately, the greateness about the Sixth Suite was destroyed by using J.S. Bach as "counterpoint." If they were going to use Bach, they should have just used a guy who really looks like Bach, not like some guy with just long hair. It would had been much better if they just ignored the whole Bach thing and go straight to music.

However, my biggest disappointment comes with the Fifth Suite. I couldn't believe that they didn't have a translation when the Japanese Kabuko dancer was talking! Sometimes, he would be talking solo for a few minutes and there wouldn't even be an option for subtitle. Perhaps, VHS version has that. My DVD version didn't. Anyway, I thought the Japanese dance was cool except that I kept thinking that the guy playing a woman wasn't actually a woman. I felt kind of uncomfortable when he (or she) touched Yo-yo's hand.

Lastly, although Yo-yo is a GREAT musician, I think he talks like a woman, which is not necessarily bad as long as you are one. Does anybody else think that way? February 10, 2002

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