The Dancer Upstairs (2002)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

John Malkovich

Writers:

Nicholas Shakespeare (novel)
Nicholas Shakespeare (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 September 2002 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

An honest man caught in a world of intrigue, power and passion.

Plot:

A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.

Plot Keywords:

Revolution | Police | Police Detective | Hit And Run | Firework

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Javier Bardem	...	Agustín Rejas
Juan Diego Botto	...	Sucre
Laura Morante	...	Yolanda
Elvira Mínguez	...	Llosa
Alexandra Lencastre	...	Sylvina Rejas
Oliver Cotton	...	Merino
Luís Miguel Cintra	...	Calderón
Javier Manrique	...	Clorindo
Abel Folk	...	Ezequiel / Durán
Marie-Anne Berganza	...	Laura
Lucas Rodríguez	...	Gómez
Xabier Elorriaga	...	Pascual
Natalia Dicenta	...	Marina
Wolframio Sinué	...	Santiago
Ramiro Jiménez	...	Sergeant Pisac

Also Known As:

Pasos de baile (Spain)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, and for language.

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

Spain | USA

Language:

English | Quechua | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:12 | Peru:14 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Espinho, Aveiro, Portugal

Company:

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Trivia:

In the beginning of the film, one of the revolutionaries tells a checkpoint security guard that his dead dog's name is Tupac. Tupac Amaru was the last indigenous leader of the Inca people in Peru and Tupac Amaru II was the leader of the 1780s uprising in colonial day Cusco, Peru. (The late hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur is named after the latter).

Goofs:

Continuity: When they are searching through garbage, the female officer's mask (which is around her neck) appears on her mouth for one shot.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Revealing 'The Dancer Upstairs' (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Viagens Interditas

Round Up the Unusual Suspects!

The film's trailer, which rain endlessly for months in advance at my local art house, and the reviews, etc., have emphasized this as a political thriller. But in fact it's really in the tradition of "Casablanca," where politics is a constant background to only part of the hero's motivation. I did expect someone to say "Round up the usual suspects!"

Awkwardly in this day and age, the Latino actors in the film's unnamed Latin American country (it was filmed in Ecuador and Madrid) all speak (accented) English, with subtitles to indicate when characters are speaking an Indian dialect, i.e. when the hero lawyer/detective is using his heritage to solve the complex case of politically-motivated murders.

But it's the complex layers that make this more interesting than Costa-Gavras' didactic "State of Siege" that is repeatedly referred to as an inspiration, both to director John Malkovich and the revolutionaries, and making this akin to HBO's "The Wire" in showing how a flawed cop can stick to his professionalism amidst deadly-serious bureaucratic and real politics.

The cop's simplistically drawn Beverly Hills matron-type wife turns out to incidentally help him uncover a clue, as he gradually comprehends the cynicism of a revolution that uses unexpected types of cells for suicide missions, with resonance for the MidEast as well, as ideologues are more diabolically dangerous than criminals.

That the dancer is actually downstairs is emblematic of the film's genre confusion.