Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

Watched this on Amazon prime. A movie about love, loss, promises and a bit of dancing. A fantastic cast led by Robert Carlyle and Marisa Tomei and a great script, this is a wonderful little movie, both happy and sad. A big thumbs up from me.

I caught this film at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck Michigan. Directed by Randall Miller and a star filled cast, this film was the best of the festival, and may be one of my favorites of the year. The film begins with baker Robert Carlyle driving down a deserted highway. He comes upon a stranger in a car wreck, played by John Goodman, and the two talk with each other, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Goodman tells Carlyle of his planned reunion with his childhood love at the place mentioned in the title.

This beautiful film is wonderfully acted, with such stars as Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, and Ernie Hudson. I loved the story, I didn't realize you could do so much with such a simple outline. I loved the structure of the film, the way it was edited and shot. There were some very funny moments, very touching moments, and overall it's just a great experience. Some of the filmmakers showed up for the festival and had some great stories to tell. The movie was originally made 15 years ago as a short film of the same title, and a lot of the scenes from the short film are used in the feature as flashback scenes (I knew I saw Donkeylips from Salute Your Shorts).

I think with such an all-star cast and such a good story, this film will at least get release in major cities. So if you get the chance, check this movie out.

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."

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!

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.