Soleil de nuit

Frankly, I don't see why everybody is so up in arms about the quality of this movie. I, for one, don't need to preface my review with a disclaimer that only its dance sequences can be enjoyed. I happen to think that it's a pretty excellent cinematographic work overall. Let me elaborate.

The camera work here is among the most original and clever out there. It's incredibly dynamic and energetic, offering unusual perspectives, delivering great close-ups, and skillfully capturing the sweeping wide spaces. An unusually large amount of footage is devoted to the city landscapes of St. Petersburg - a rarity in American flicks on Russian themes. It's all the more jarring, however, that despite attempts to ensure authenticity of the setting, at least the first couple of car rides seem to have been done in a stationary vehicle and plastered rather crudely against the city background. But this is a forgivable and almost charming flaw, considering the film's limited budget and the release year of 1985.

The film is a paradox of sorts, showcasing interesting performances from Rossellini and Hines, two actors who have since been totally under-appreciated. There's good chemistry between the impressionable and high-strung duet of Darya and Raymond. Jerzy Skolimovski (Colonel Chaiko) is the classical cunning villain with a Slavic flare. Baryshnikov himself seems a bit rigid and somewhat formulaic as Nikolay Rodchenko. That is when he's not dancing, of course. For when he dances, he unleashes all imaginable and unimaginable potential.

Obviously, the story line is sketched out in broad, exaggerated strokes. But I bet the filmmakers actually expected the overall theatricality to be taken with a grain of salt. Besides, the subject matter discussed wasn't keen on subtleties. The events depicted were behind-the-scenes operations all right, but they were as blunt and theatrically bizarre as can be. And as for those who think the circumstances and emotions of the dissidence and emigration (or defection in this case) experience are overblown - brush up on mid-20th century history and get a grip on things. Not only had the Big Brother's machinery of state control and suppression been well oiled for decades in the Soviet Union and its satellites, but the shadow of this absurd, merciless beast hangs over many of those nations still. Folks, the fictionalized account of Nikolay Rodchenko is merely a -slightly- glamorized and dramatized version of real life experience of countless victims of the era.

The scenes of Nikolay and Darya fleeing through the deserted streets of Leningrad and the subsequent humiliation they experience in front of the American embassy send chills down my spine every time I watch the movie. That threat and that danger are very real to me even though my emigration experience in the 1990s was simply peachy in retrospect and comparison. Just as disturbing and sobering, by the way, is Rodchenko's reception by the Americans and the so-called international community inside the gates. He to them is but a nimble exotic specimen...

Anyhow, let me dismount my high horse and reiterate, seconding the earlier reviews, that `White Nights' features superb, matchless dancing; and, to miss it is a deathly sin. Well, almost...

There are essentially four dance highlights in the movie. Choreography is mainly by Baryshnikov, Hines, and, very importantly, Twyla Tharp. Baryshnikov's duet with Florence Faure in the opening credits is bound to leave your breathless. It is sheer perfection - immensely inventive and impeccably executed. The second instance when you'll forget that you could blink and breathe is during the 11 rubles for 11 pirouettes number. He does it with a godly effortlessness. Hines' and Baryshnikov's dance studio number is fascinating to watch. And, then… Then, there's Mikhail's solo to Vysotsky's tape on the stage of the Kirov theatre. Its beauty is literally painful and words can never describe it.

If you haven't seen `White Nights' or haven't seen it more than once, you're denying yourself an unearthly pleasure. And you can snicker at my high-flown sighs and exclamations all you want :)

I hadn't seen this movie in 20 plus years and had forgotten most of it except that I'd really liked it. I enjoyed it in my rewatch too, a unique story, worth checking out for the opening dance number with Mikhail Baryshnikov if nothing else. Its incredible, showcasing a true athlete. Gregory Hines is pretty great too, tap dancing and singing, the two together are fantastic.

White Nights is from the mid 80's and except for some cheesy music stands up well. Baryshnikov plays a touring ballet dancer who, after defecting to America years earlier finds himself back in Russia when the plane he's travelling on is forced to make a crash landing in Siberia. Trapped in the country he'd once escaped, 'Nicolai' is taken to stay with American (Gregory Hines) who himself defected during the Vietnam war. Together they dance and plot an escape.

This role must have been written exclusively for Baryshnikov because I can't think that anyone else could have done it.

Isabella Rossellini plays Hines' Russian wife. Her character is well acted but a bit of a twit. If I was making a run for the American embassy and my life was on the line I would not be wearing a bright red sweater, especially during white nights when the sun doesn't set. We also get an appearance from a very young Helen Mirren as Nicolai's former love that he left behind when he defected.

Worth checking out for views of the old soviet union, fantastic dance sequences.

A couple songs from Phil Collins on the soundtrack and some other bad 80s music is used

I'm not a dance fan, but the opening ballet sequence alone is worth the price of a rental. Baryshnikov had a vertical leap matched only by Olympic high jumpers and a few NBA players. Even if the drama flags in spots, the characters are sympathetic and well-drawn, and the action/suspense is as good as that in other adventure flicks of the time. By now the movie also serves a documentary purpose, convincingly conveying the feel of life in the Soviet Union during its waning years.

A must for fans of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines (RIP) and Isabella Rossellini (possibly their best acting performances). This is a strong drama for fans of dance or heart-warming films. The dance scenes are excellent and they are incorporated into the film seamlessly.

Surprising performances by all: Baryshnikov is excellent to watch and listen to, and Hines and Rossellini are convincing as an inter-racial husband and wife struggling to survive in Russia. I was surprised in how well it was acted, and you may be surprised in how you will react to it. This is one of my favorite dramas/love stories.

This movie also gives us a dark glimpse into the life of those who are poverty stricken (lower class and outcasts) in Russia as well as giving you an idea of how well the rich and famous live. Remember, this film was made before the wall came down.

If exploding aliens is your type of movie, you may think this is a sappy film. But if you let yourself get lost in this movie (as all movie lovers should) you will really like this one.

I just saw this on television - having resisted my sister-in-law's entreaties years ago to see it. It's awfully good.

The movie is imaginative - having Gregory Hines in a theater in Siberia, a defector to Russia when disillusioned and unable to find use for his talents as an adult tap dancer in America after the Vietnam War, married to the translator initially assigned him (an astonishing peformance by Isabella Rosellini), and performing Porgy & Bess to audiences including Russian troops - well, it's a character and situation you don't find in movies every day!

I was amazed at the close-knit work of actors who were not then first name movie stars - and at how well-drawn these characters are -

Helen Mirren is superb as Baryshnikov's former lover, partner, and now director of the Kirov Ballet - angry and constantly deluding herself that things are getting more artistically free in Russia -

Baryshnikov is excellent, reliving the pain of defection in his old theater, seeing a tape of himself when at 17 he was care-free and full of illusory ambition, the discovery of the erasure of his name among children in Russia, the anger of his former partner for his abandonment of her and denunciation of his "selfishness" in defecting -

Hines as a man living with an atrocious mistake and trying always to justify itself to himself - in Siberia, he seems like a man on Mars -

an almost unrecognizable Rosellini as a Russian woman in pained love with Hines (just the looks on her face of love and sympathy and pity and helplessness for Hines are so powerful and moving - I'll never forget them)-

the four are so very very fine together. Each TRULY seems the person they're portraying. If one were to see news photographs or a documentary about such characters - they would look this way, sound this way, move and speak and dress this way.

The dancing is very enjoyable to watch - and you really needn't be a fan of dance (I'm not) to marvel at it.

The only downside of the movie is that it takes these four fascinating and pained characters, and stuffs them into a somewhat formulaic action plot. I also found the music too heavy throughout - let there be silences as they contemplate their messy situations.

This is very well worth seeing.