Dance Me Outside (1995/VSC/Music Video Distributors DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
After so
many years of injustice, independent and studio films are still having issues
with portraying and telling any stories of any kind about Native Americans, now
and then. Bruce MacDonald’s Dance Me Outside (1995) is one of those
too-rare films, taking place in the modern time as two young men go to jail as
a friend is killed in a bar fight. They want justice, especially as they expect
they will not get it otherwise.
It helped
establish Adam Beach as one of the more formidable actors of his generation,
but the whole cast is pretty good, even if the film does not go as far as it
could outside of convention. Like a
foreign film covering similar territory, the best part of the film is seeing
another side of life that should never be so foreign as the film is. 13 years later, little in Hollywood has
changed, but maybe someday…
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is a bit soft, but does not look too bad
here, as lensed by Miroslaw Baszak (Romero’s Land Of The Dead, reviewed elsewhere on this site) who makes it
even more watchable. The Dolby Digital
5.1 mix is a fair attempt to upgrade the original sound, but can only do so
much considering the budget restrictions and dialogue-based situation. Mychael Danna’s score (8MM, Capote, Breach) is
a plus. Extras include stills, text
bios, trailers, on camera interviews and a crew/director commentary.
- Nicholas Sheffo
