The Dancer Upstairs
Picture: B
Sound: B Extras: B- Film: B-
John Malkovich joins an increasingly long list of actors
making their directing debut with The Dancer Upstairs, a 2003 film based
on the 1995 book by Nicholas Shakespeare, who actually wrote this
screenplay. Javier Bardem stars as
police detective Agustin Rejas, who is caught between a the military-leaning
government he works for and a potentially Marxist terrorist group who is
actually using Bible quotes to promote themselves as they mutilate animals in
advance of killing people all over Peru.
Rejas family carries on normally, but he is also falling
for his daughter’s ballet teacher Yolanda (Laura Morante), due to a continuing
disconnection emotionally with his wife (Alexandra Lencastre). She is more interested in a happy future,
with money and opportunity, but not in a shallow way. Nevertheless, former attorney Agustin has more realistic matters
of the moment to deal with.
This is not a formula film about terrorism in the third world,
or a deep examination of the implications of such a world, as Roman Polanski’s
incredible Death and the Maiden (1994) did so brilliantly. Instead, it is a character study of all
involved, as well as the character of a society that could do better if two
conflicting sides of senseless militant power (government and terrorists) would
just go away. As a matter of fact, it
is a similar situation Benicio Del Toro finds himself in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic
(1999), doing his best in a situation he cannot totally control.
The film is, therefore, also a film about a character with
integrity. However, at 135 minutes in
length, the film tends to run-on, also because of integrity. In this case, it is over the desire to sty
faithful to the book, especially since he wrote the script. Malkovich doe san impressive job, showing
that he deeply absorbed what he learned by working with such great directors as
Bernardo Bertolucci, Robert Benton, Stephen Frears, Woody Allen and Clint
Eastwood among others. However, the
results fall short by not being cinematic enough. Malkovich is one of the smartest artists in Hollywood, but all he
is trying to achieve do not get through, as they should. The book-like restraints of the author’s
screenplay do not allow for more latitude for Malkovich to express all the
nuances he is going for. However, the
film shows he has the potential to be as great a director as an actor and that
accounts for how much the film still does succeed.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is nice, with
color, depth, and definition better than expected. Often, smaller films tend to get cheated in their video
transfers, but this one does not. Jose
Luis Alcaine, A.E.C., delivers some consistent and warm cinematography that
adds to the quality of the narrative.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3 multi-channel mix is more impressive than
expected, being warmer and more naturalistic than Dolby’s compression usually
delivers. Add that this was a
low-budget film, and the sound here is impressive. As usual, this would even be better in DTS, but someone went out
of their way to make this sound good and especially for a dialogue-based film,
that’s nice.
The extras include Malkovich and Bardem in a commentary
that does not start right away, a Sundance Channel featurette, a longer Making
of featurette, and two trailers, including one for this film. After going through all of this, you can se
Malkovich on the right track, but having seen the film, where his inexperience
got him. This is a great learning
experience for those who either want to make films, or are about to jump into
it.
I like the acting in this film and felt it took us
somewhere we have not been before, even when it dragged. Despite this, it is now with much more
anticipation I wait for Malkovich to try helming a film again, as well as
other’s reaction to this one. The
Dancer Upstairs may not be a total success, but it works on a higher level
for this type of filmmaking that sure beats the onslaught of over-budgeted
posers with their endless illness of far too many digital effects. You will have to see this one for yourself
to be sure what to think.
- Nicholas Sheffo
