Mr Gaga (2015)
Director: Tomer Heymann
Review by Clem Wetherall
Eight years in the making, Mr Gaga is director Tomer Heymann’s opus and love-letter to world-renowned Israeli dancer, choreographer and artistic director Ohad Naharin. Far removed from what we sometimes think of as the ‘spectacle’ of dance, this documentary is not another Flash-dance, Fame or Footloose, but rather a deeply emotional and cinematically exquisite examination of Ohad Naharin’s life, from his time as a carefree child in the ‘Kibbutz’ (communal farm) through to the triumph of leading the Batsheva Dance Company, Israel’s national dance company.
The name Ohad Naharin might not be well known outside of the professional dance world, but as we learn throughout the film, his body, art and philosophy have had a revolutionary impact on modern dance. From a professional point of view Naharin came late (early twenties) to the discipline of dance, but he captivated the booming New York dance world in the 1970s with his gumption, passion and perseverance. His serpentine like style and unconventional movements, channelling masculine and feminine elements, are captured in early homemade movies, and as the film follows a loose biographical narrative, we are privy to the development of what he is most famous for, Gaga.
Gaga is a dance theory, which has some emphasis on small, isolated and controlled movements, but which also aims to be spontaneous, natural and allow for freedom of expression. Naharin refers to Gaga as movement language rather than a technique and we see this body language developing over time throughout the film following an injury that thwarts his career as a dancer.
Gaga is something that defies easy explanation and in order to be fully grasped it needs to be seen as practised by non-dancers as well as professionals. Happily, through Heymann’s tireless examination of Naharin and the Batsheva School, we are richly rewarded with extensive and detailed imagery captured as his students pour their blood, sweat, and tears into embodying Naharin’s vision in the studio and on stage – often with as much humour as angst.
Heymann spent years trying to convince camera shy Naharin to open up his studio to documentation and his persistence and obsession payed off with Naharin also eventually handing over his personal collection of video recordings. Footage capturing Naharin as a child, as an entertainer in the army, a dancer in new york and as the partner and husband of critically acclaimed dancer Mari Kajiwara, wends it’s way through the performances of work, weeping, rejoicing, laughing and screaming, in the spirit of the gaga philosophy.
“And this is what happened to me… after eight years I discovered dance does not belong to dancers… it belongs to all of us…”.
While Naharin is the key focus of the documentary, he is not the only person whose presence is strongly felt. Director Tomer Heymann’s obsession with his subject is not just an idle curiosity; his connection to Naharin and to Gaga is deeply personal and can first be traced back almost twenty-four years, where as a young man he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality.
As he explained to an audience in Melbourne on the opening night:
“It was ‘92… I was deep in the closet…. I was full of fears… and what to do with my life… and with this attitude about the future that looked to me quite hard- I went to see [a performance of] ‘Mabul’ in Israel… [and this was] much more before the queer revolution in Israel…
“So I went to see this show and the whole piece is amazing. But [I] focused on this kissing by two female dancers and how it affects my life and I remember thinking…
“Wow! It looks amazing, it looks natural, it looks simple, it looks beautiful…
“I remember how it influenced my life – this moment from a dance show… and this is for me is what Ohad gave to my life, it gave me a moment that pushed me to be who I am.”
Gaga also unexpectedly helped Heymann in the middle of the film project when his relationship ended and the love of his life left him to move back to Germany.
“I was shocked and completely empty and down… and for a very long time I didn’t care about Mr Gaga… I lost interest in life…
But after about a month I got a call from Ohad… I didn’t explain what had happened but he said
‘Tomer your voice is terrible… are you going to die?’”
After explaining the situation, Naharin convinced Heymann to attend a Gaga class, something Heymann had been avoiding for years because he was too embarrassed to dance in front of people.
“[So] from this very heavy depression.. I looked awful… I went to the Gaga class…
“And I was surprised… the teacher covered the mirror… [and] after a minute it wasn’t any more about gender, or your religion, [or how you looked].
“I went Monday…. and already I was starting to feel something…
“On the Thursday, at 8pm at Tel Aviv studios… I walked out… what? Birds! I hear birds again…. The colour is grey or blue of the sky… and the taste of ice-cream!
“And this is what happened to me… after eight years I discovered dance does not belong to dancers… it belongs to all of us…”.
Heymann’s paean to Naharin is not just a film for dancers, or a story of lovers, or creative genius. In the style of Gaga it is a film for all people, from all walks of life – expressive yet controlled, emotional yet focused. Heymann says he wants everyone go home with ‘their own layer of the movie’ and in this he succeeds.
Mr Gaga, showing exclusively from June 30 at Cinema Nova.
