There are few words to describe the spectacular acrobatic feats and the spellbinding innovative blend of athleticism, dance and music of most Cirque du Soleil shows.
The new 3D film “Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away” captures 90-minutes of highlights of the wonder of the seven running in Las Vegas last year — O, Mystère, Kà, (Beatles) Love, Zumanity, Viva Elvis, and Criss Angel Believe.
Previous efforts to capture some of these and other Cirque shows in TV and video specials have been unable to capture the magic and awe of seeing them live in person.
“Worlds Away” improves on those efforts considerably by bringing the added element of intimacy. Writer/director/producer Andrew Adamson, with a big assist from executive producer James Cameron and his CAMERON | PACE Group, used ten of the company’s Fusion 3D cameras to film the shows from every angle, including unprecedented close-ups, underwater shots, and th use of slow-motion. Production took place over 37 days October 201 – February 2011.
The opening moments with the camera on the surface of the water with the legs of synchronized swimmers popping up in front of the camera provide an immediate sense of the potential added impact of the 3D, as does an arrow shot towards the camera near the end of the film that makes you duck.
Sadly, those are by far the moments of biggest 3D impact, with the arrow representing the only moment that something appears to come out of the screen. Once again Cameron-Pace have opted not to bring anything off the screen despite the numerous fabulous opportunities with everything from acrobats who could have swung out over the audience, to clown ladders that could have been extend over viewers’ heads. As always, Cameron-Pace prefer the audience to feel as if they are looking through a window into a world, rather than have the audience feel immersed in the experience.
That creative choice ultimately leaves the viewer feeling as detached from the show as one does when viewing it on TV, even with the closer shots and the 3D depth behind the screen. Such as it is, the 3D displayed through the xPand system at the Arclight in Pasadena Ca. was impressive.
Nonetheless, it’s a worthwhile effort that weaves the highlights into a loose story line about a young girl who has is instantly smitten with an aerialist with whom she shares a glance outside a circus tent. While watching him perform moments later, she causes him to miss his grip and drop through the floor of into a fantastical world where she chases him from one show to another before finally catching him and performing a dream-fulfilling aerial straps ballet duet. The young girl and the aerialist, Erica Kathleen Linz and Igor Zaripov, are each Cirque performer veterans of the show KÀ who created new interstitial scenes for the movie, as well as the final aerial ballet created specificially for the film since they never performed a duet before.
Kudos to all involved in this artistically noble effort, but let’s hope that if and when it makes it way to 3net or another 3DTV network, and on Blu-ray 3D, that the 3D is tweaked to push much further off the screen to offer the kind of impact this movie deserves.
— By Scott Hettrick