Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

saw it last nite at a complimentary screening. it was well worth seeing if only for robert carlyle's performance alone! he was absolutely extraordinary! i found mary steenburgen very affected, though, & was consciously aware that she was acting! i can't understand all the positive comments about her performance in this movie, though i absolutely adore her in other things (she was so great in joan of arcadia on TV, for example). i liked the interweaving of past & present & the way story lines played out & were connected eventually. it was well told. it integrated pathos with humor & had many unexpected touches. some of the acting was like caricature - e.g., donny wahlberg's, & i did not enjoy that type of aspect whenever it occurred. but on the whole i felt this was a well crafted film of value and substance. i'm glad i saw it.

I'm ripping off another reviewer's title for "Lisbon Story" (the original "good for the soul" movie), but I can't think of a better description for "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School."

I won't even get into the plot except to say that it's at times surprisingly dark, surprisingly uplifting, surprisingly tense, and just overall surprising. It deals with themes of devastating loss, rediscovery, pain, anger, violence, and confusion but in a way that gets your toes tapping to the Lindy Hop. Watch the movie, and that'll make sense.

If you've gotten past the supercilious title, which doubtlessly scares off anyone in the mood for Saw VIII, and you've gotten as far as the 3rd paragraph of this review which includes supercilious words like "supercilious", then I think you'll get it. This is a movie which explores the veneer of charm which we often use to cloak a deeper ugliness in our lives. But it doesn't do it sarcastically; it actually points out how an occasional ballroom dance may, occasionally, be the cure for the horrors that we experience.

It's no surprise that the filmmakers managed to snare an all star cast, because this is the kind of movie that actors (who aren't solely obsessed with money) would eagerly jump into. Award winning talent like John Goodman, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, and some of my personal favorites like Ernie Hudson (The Crow, Ghostbusters) and Donnie Wahlberg (the aforementioned Saw movies) as well as a cameo by Danny Devito really bring this story to life. And of course there's the main character played by Robert Carlyle, an actor whom I'm not familiar with but I'll forever remember his performance here.

As for the dancing itself, no, it's not really a showcase of fancy footwork (for that, you should check out the awesome Aussie flick "Strictly Ballroom") although Donnie Wahlberg does some impressive moves as the hilarious cheeseball Baryshnikov wannabee who needs to button his shirt back above his navel. This is really a human story with elements of romcom, elements of tragedy, elements of suspense, and regardless of how it turns out "good for the soul."

I saw this movie at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. It truly was a wonderful package. All parts come together. After the film, the audience gave it a standing applause. It was a hit with the audience, including myself. I would see it again. Robert Carlyle was very good as the sympathetic baker, consumed by his wife's death, and inadvertently drawn into an emergency situation. The director/writer incorporates his older film of a boy's experience of being forced to go to dance and charm school, melding it perfectly with the now adult man's perception played by John Goodman. Others in the film were Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlber, and Sean Astin, all giving a wonderful performance.

The film's use of two voices relaying three narrative threads, artfully woven without confusion while maintaining audience interest and focus, could be used as a textbook for compound story structure. If the story hadn't been expanded from a short film thereby requiring this approach, I'd be heaping superlative praise on its inventiveness as well.

Entertaining, well-cast with excellent performances by its ensemble of seasoned character actors, and just quirky enough to offset its sometimes saccharin character, I think this will grow a deserved following when it airs on cable. A solid illustration of the possibility of 'charm' in contemporary cinema, it presented little violence beyond its illustration of an automobile accident site and the language of adolescent boys, and managed a passionate but never prurient love scene under cover of a liberal dusting of flour.

Enchanting!

It took a while before i felt involved with the film and the characters. However, once more characters started joining the dance class i started to look forward to every scene in the ballroom. Robert Carlyle was obviously the lead role but Mary Steenburgen was fabulous. She was funny but serious and assertive, and her wardrobe throughout the movie evolved along with her character. A nice, subtle touch. As was the gentleman who starts and stops the music for her during the film, i think his name was Freeway? I started looking forward to every time he hit play on that tiny boom box and hearing the music boom through the theater sound. Overall i really enjoyed the film even though it started a little slow.