Danzón

Julia is a middle aged phone operator in Mexico City who divides her time between her job, her daughter and the "Danzon": an elegant, romantic Cuban dance popular in Caribbean Latin America.

Julia wants to taste one great romance in her life before she feels she will have lost what's left of her beauty. Like a ritual, each Wednesday Julia dances the Danzon with the dashing, mysterious and still handsome Carmelo in the old "Salon Colonia". They've danced for years but barely know each other.

One night Carmelo disappears without a trace. Suddenly bereft, Julia abandons well-regulated obligations and responsibilities and sets off on a long distance odyssey, searching for her missing cavalier. These comic, touching and ultimately triumphant adventures lead Julia to a deeper comprehension of the meaning of life and true happiness.

Like the title says, The Dance ! According to wikipedia: "Danzón is the official musical genre and dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico, and is much loved in Puerto Rico as well. Written in 2/4 time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance." In the story, Maria Rojo is Julia, who likes to dance. when she's not dancing, she's working or looking after her daughter in Mexico City. but then Julia's dance partner goes missing. and everyone has their own idea of what might have happened to him. so Julia goes off to VeraCruz to look for him! a fun scene where Julia reads all the ships names in various languages as she walks along the piers. she makes some great new friends, and has a grand adventure. and we get to see some great scenery of VeraCruz. directed by Maria Novaro. Written by Beatriz Novaro. Maria born in 1951. Beatriz born in 1953... sisters? it's fun.

Maria Novaro has made a mini-specialty of what might be called the "women's road movie." (She has described her later "Without a Trace" as "Thelma and Louise" with a happy ending.) Danzon gives us Julia, a 40-ish telephone operator and single mother of a sulky teenager, who leaves her Mexico City routine when her dance partner--about whom she knows little more than his name--seems to disappear. The movie opens up into lush panoramas when Julia reaches Veracruz, a metaphor for her own blossoming self-discovery. The soundtrack alone--old-fashioned "danzons" (Mexican dance music imported from Cuba)--is worth the rental price.

The main character goes on a long journey to find Carmelo, her danzon partner, after he fails to show up for their weekly dancing date. She believes that dancing is the only bright spot in her life. On her journey, she makes new friends and has an affair with a younger man. She returns to find Carmelo at home, and realizes that she doesn't need him the way she thought she did. Julia's life has an excitement even without this man.

It was a good film. I watched a subtitled version which was helpful but as always you lose alittle of the content that way.

I had no real expectations for this but it was definitely worth a viewing, and it's really well-filmed.