THE DANCER UPSTAIRS (2002)
Hey, everybody! And welcome to a long-awaited
Throwback Review! Y’know, everytime I have done Throwback Reviews, it’s been for films with which the American public is very familiar. But, because I like
trying new things, I decided to cover a film that a lot of people might not know about: The Dancer Upstairs, the
directorial debut of Academy Award-nominated actor, John Malkovich. The reason
I decided to do this film is because it has a very special place in my
heart…which I shall get into after I explain the plot.
Based on the novel by Nicholas Shakespeare
(appropriate name for a writer), The Dancer
Upstairs tells the story of Detective Agustin Rejas (Javier Bardem), who
hunting down a mysterious revolutionary named President Ezequiel. While that is
going on, Rejas himself is falling in love with his daughter’s ballet teacher,
Yolanda (Laura Morante). But soon, Rejas discovers that Yolanda may not be what
he thought she was. And no, I will not reveal any more than that.
Now, to address the elephant in the room: the
reason as to why this film is so special to me. There is a scene in the film
where Yolanda is dancing to a piano-heavy cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the
Watchtower” by American pianist Yul Anderson…
My uncle.
That’s right. John Malkovich used a song
cover by my uncle and put it in his film. Just to show you, here are some
pictures of my uncle with John Malkovich and Bob Dylan, just for good measure.
Also, here’s a little snippet of the audio
commentary for The Dancer Upstairs
where John Malkovich talks about the music for that scene.
However, that is not the only reason to enjoy
the film. One of the things I really enjoyed about the movie was the
cinematography. DP Jose Luis Alcaine has made great use of the camera to help
tell the story visually. Two great examples come to mind. The first is when we
meet Rejas; before we see his face, we see him stacking up three books, the
first about democracy, the second about Simon Bolivar, and the third To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Right in that moment, we are introduced to Bardem’s character without any use
of dialogue. The second example is a shot that happens at the end of the film,
when Bardem’s character is watching his daughter dance. Without giving too much
away, Bardem is reminded of some emotional pain when he watches the dance, and
there is an extreme close up on his face as we watch him run the gamut of
emotions. Not only is that great cinematography from Alcaine, but it also some
great acting on Javier Bardem’s part.
Another aspect of the cinematography which I
enjoyed was how it held on certain shots for long periods of time (or the long
take, as it is called). After watching so many modern films with quick editing
(that I have taken to calling “ADHD editing”), it’s nice to see a film that
lets the shots linger, building up a sense of atmosphere, which works well for
a crime thriller film like this.
Another positive element of the film is the
acting, particularly from Bardem and Morante when they are together onscreen. I
have no problem believing that these two people are really falling in love
because their chemistry is so believable. They share their life stories, they
are vulnerable to each other, etc. Which is why it is so sad to see the
direction in which their love story goes; again, I will not give away how it
ends.
I would say that my only problem with the
film is that it’s a little on the long side. And I know that sounds like a
weird problem to have, but to me, this felt like a story that could have been
told in maybe an hour and fifty minutes, tops. But then again, this film Is a
crime thriller/allegory for Maoist invasion of Peru during the 80s/love story,
so maybe it needed to be a little longer to fit all of those elements in.
In all honesty, that is my only hangup with
the film. This was a worthy directorial debut for John Malkovich, and I hope he
considers taking on some more directing gigs in the future. As for my
recommendation on whether or not you should see it? Well, keep in mind that
this is one of those “art house” films (which should be fairly obvious,
considering that the distributor is Fox Searchlight Pictures), so it’s
definitely not for everybody. But, hey, if you’re a film geek like I am, then
I’d say check it out!
And that's my Throwback Review for today! Stay tuned for my review of X-Men: Apocalypse!
Comments
Post a Comment