This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
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Plot Overview
As the looming
cotillion of shrinking violet Caitlin Spencer (Lauren Collins)
approaches she finds her dancing unimproved despite her expensive
training. She persuades her instructor Pierre Dulaine (Antonio
Banderas) to transfer her to his rank beginners class in the inner
city where she'll be less intimidated by the great unwashed small
potatoes.
There Pierre brings a star tango dancer as a visitor to inspire
his unenthusiastic charges and then they start cooperating
with him. Caitlin picks a lummox called Monster (Brandon D.
Andrews) for her partner who does make her look good as did Bo
Jangles tap dancing with Shirley Temple in the old movies. Pierre's
partner assignments—by height—lead to frisson
contributing to the drama. Especially tense was Danjou & Ramos
both wanting to dance with Sasha, one hombre being black, the other
Latino, and the girl light-skinned of indeterminate heritage.
Pierre assigns both guys to her telling them to work it out in the dance. A
bit of background will help us understand the denouement.
Anthropologist Desmond Morris describes the human interaction of “Intention Movements: … small, preparatory movements … act[ing] as clues, revealing what we intend to do” (173). He says dancing takes it to an extreme: “Nearly all human dancing is basically a long series of varying Intention Movements. To put it another way, dancing is locomotion that gets us nowhere. We take to the dance floor and we move, and we move, and we are still there when the music ends. We turn and we sway and we tilt, back and forth and round and round. Viewed objectively, the dancer is rather like a parrot in a small cage, bobbing and weaving on its perch but unable to fly away. With us the condition is voluntary. We find it comforting to perform and even comforting to watch. The rhythm of the alternating Intention Movements has become an end in itself” (176–7). Or let's take an example from a padre described by author Joseph O'Connor:
The
razor scratched across the grey stubble as he leaned, first this
way, then that, craning his head. Pursing his lips he felt a little
ludicrous for a sixty year old man. He looked like he was about to
kiss someone. He contorted his chin, flexed his cheeks. He
stared for a moment at his own face, the bags under his yellow
eyes, the whiteness of his hair. His hands seemed heavy. They felt
too large and clumsy.
He tried to console himself. His parishioners believed these
hands could change bread and wine into body and blood. Sometimes, even
after all this time, he almost believed it himself. (206)
Fr
Flanagan almost believes his hands will accomplish their appointed
task, Mass after Mass. Likewise the dancers can almost believe
they'll get the play they act out for dance after dance. There are
a very few folk dances that choreograph a kiss in
them—or an optional kiss—but for the most part it only
happens in ballroom dance if the couple has something
going on outside the dance floor. It's a big surprise when
Danjou's partner plants a smacker on her causing her alternate
partner to come out on the floor. In folk dancing we have a triad
of one girl with two boys, or one boy with two girls. It's quite
sedate. But this is a dramatic tango, which should prove
interesting, though it's uncertain how the judges will score it in
the couples dance category.
Ideology
Jason
“Rock” Rockwell (Rob Brown) could provide an object
lesson on (Prov. 1:10-19)
“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they
say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily
for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the
grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find
all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast
in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not
thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For
their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in
vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait
for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are
the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the
life of the owners thereof.” He gets sucked into being
lookout for some hoodlums acquiring stolen property. They give him
a piece and tell him to use it if they get discovered. If he punks
out and doesn't, then they'll do him as they did his brother.
Pierre was solidly behind these
disadvantaged youths, and they helped him in turn, as in (Prov. 11:25) “The liberal soul shall be
made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
Production Values
“” (2006) was directed by Liz Friedlander. It was written by Dianne Houston. It stars Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown and Yaya DaCosta. Banderas and Alfre Woodard as the principal did just fine. Lauren Collins was superlative playing the cotillion girl. She cemented together several aspects of the film with ease. The rest of the supporting cast lacked any great acting chops, or I'd have rated the film higher. The dancers were as energetic as one could wish.
MPA rated it PG–13 for thematic material, language and some violence. The resident feminists raised the issue of why is it the man always leads? The instructor responded that the man merely proposes, and it's up to the woman whether or not to follow. Following takes as much strength, he says, as leading. In practice, however, it's more difficult to lead in the beginning, but after the partners acquire skills, it's harder to follow. Whatever. In my liberal college town, the dance community adopted the convention of calling the two roles leads & follows and let the dancers decide which one to do, although they always lined up according to their sex. This didn't work so well when we had a guest German instructor as the German word for lead is führer. Our folk dancing included “partner dances” in which both parties alternate doing the exact same steps, it didn't matter who was the “man” or who was the “woman.” Nevertheless, the twosomes mostly conformed to the gender order of the teaching pair. Jeez!
There were several dramas running concurrently without any cinematic device to tell them apart at a glance, so pay attention. It was filmed on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, representing NYC. Runtime ≈ 2 hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
If my
reader has any qualms about high schoolers learning social dance,
let me point out that there was also opposition in this movie
inspired by a true story, and it was overcome based on learning
discipline and etiquette.
In a word this film was moving and you'll find yourself tapping your toes if not joining a dance class. It's also a worthy drama with a modicum of humor. Of course it's shaped by Hollywood, but that's to be expected.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Predictable. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Morris, Desmond. Manwatching. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1977. Print.
O'Connor, Joseph. True Believers. Copyright © 1991 by Joseph O'Connor. London: Sinclair-Stevenson Limited, 1991. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org