The Dancer

I dont know why it had a rating that low (5.3). I think its a good film. Very energetic dancing scenes, emotional scenes (in the restaurant, in the subway, etc). Good acting from the girl. Bad: mainstream representation of the "scientist" ("i'm a scientist" / typical nerd).

This movie belongs in the group of movies that people watch not only for a story (or in spite of the story) but for the dancing. Mia Frye is inspirational. I watched this movie with my 5 year old daughter and it gave her lots of dance ideas which she added to her repertoire (as best she could). It's not classic ballet or choreographed Broadway Musical stuff, but a bit more wild, more basic and definitely electrifying.

The story line is not bad either. If you've seen "Children of a Lesser God" and had a connection with that plot, you might get a connection with this one. Without writing any details to spoil the story, I thought there were a few provocative twists dealing with communication and "being creative" as a mute. One was the Dancer's ability to engage a class of children without speaking (her part time job). The job discrimination part of the plot was realistic and educational. And in particular the synergy between a geek with a crush and the artist, well it was sweet, without being too sappy and ended in a fairly provocative finale. Not an action movie, most guys would probably label it a chick flick, but might like it for the sexuality in the dance numbers.

I've been trying to purchase it but have had a lot of difficulty finding it. I found a place out of Hong Kong, but then you get tangled up in the DVD region coding system.

I just read a review that told me the female lead, star of this movie, was a dancer in real life. I'm no dancing machine, but she just didn't dance very well in this movie. Her moves looked exactly the same as all the extras who were in the movie. She just got framed a little more properly. At least choreograph something a little more interesting. For a movie about a dancer whose entire life was about dancing and mesmerizing others with her moves, she was wildy wildy wildy average. Don't expect any Janet Jackson or even Britney Spears. Expect the cool girl at a party somewhere in some college kid's parents' summer home. Another big complaint was the direction. This director, another protege of Luc Besson, did not know the American culture very well, or Americans very well, nevermind the subculture of hiphop. His car-commerical type green-and-red tone looked totally out of place. Many interesting cuts and wild camera movements, but added nothing to the movie. The way he filmed the actors, especially black actors, was very obvious through a foreigner's gaze. People looked objectified. And many sets in the movie--the audition studios, the clubs, the streets of New York, all looked like exaggerated versions of sets from other American movies. The director probably has never been to very many hip clubs. And nevermind the science labs. The sci-fi elements of this movie was grade-b tv material. It was offered late in the movie as some kind of cheap deus ex-machina. So a mute girl can't get respect as a dancer because she's mute, what does she do? Oh, just turn to a scientist whose new advice can turn your moves into post-new age electronic music that sounds like retreads from The Fifth Element (oh yeah, of course, and a little Bjork here and there just to be safe.)

The music and the images at no point of time really connected, it shows how far we've gone from those MGM musicals movies where the lines may be crappy and the filmmakers may be racist, but at least the dance sequences were good. Or 10 years ago when Michael Jackson was still making music videos.

But the movie is harmless, its visual is pretty smooth so you can turn off the sound and just kinda stare at it, kinda like a really colorful lava lamp. If you must watch it, it probably won't kill you.

If we consider ourselves as "quite" serious movie reviewers, we must acknowledge the fact that a movie tells a story - that's what it's supposed to do.

Just like action movies - dance movies traditionally run short of a story to make room for the action, uhm, dancing. This is an important background fact to review this movie.

I also have to admit that I don't really like dance movies - I never saw the necessity to push a story with dancing scenes - Indian movies rely heavily on it and even in western movies some productions have reached the point where the story is, well, the gap filler between the dancing. And that would rather make for a "performance flick" than an actual movie.

Luc Besson tries really hard to makes this one stand out. He gives the protagonist characteristics that make her very special. He adds characters that really try to propel a story. The settings are great, the sound is mostly awesome and avantgardly cool, the camera and editing is (of course) Bessonesque deluxe - so what's there to complain?

Let's jump back to the beginning of my review. Even though there is a lot of substance compared to other dance movies - in the end it's a dance movie and the crucial part is the final performance, like in any other dance movie. And that, unfortunately, makes it very predictable and prototypical.

It makes me a little bit sad as you can tell that everybody here is working so hard to make this movie stand out as something different. As a performance flick this is probably one of the best and most original I've seen - but unfortunately as a movie it's only average.

I was really impressed with this feature. It is very much a simple visual treat, and an emotional and inspiring story.

India is an exceptionally talented dancer living with her brother and scarcely making ends meet. She is a mute and encounters various problems in her daily life and also in gaining employment as a dancer. This is a well acted and beautifully shot film. Jarrod Bunch in particular gives real gravity to the marginal character Bruno, makes him seem like a real person! It holds a European flavour but fits in the New York mould perfectly. I suggest that this will be enjoyed by most folk. It's a triumph of the human spirit film, without cheese. It is in a word exceptional.