The Dancer (2000)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Frédéric Garson

Writers (WGA):

Luc Besson (story)
Jessica Kaplan (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 June 2000 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A mute dancer teaches movement to adoring kids and wins the dance contest every Saturday night at a cavernous Brooklyn disco...

Plot Keywords:

Broadway | Mute | Dance | Scientist | Dancer

Cast

Mia Frye	...	India Rey
Garland Whitt	...	Jasper Rey
Rodney Eastman	...	Isaac
Josh Lucas	...	Stephane
Féodor Atkine	...	Oscar
Jarrod Bunch	...	Bruno
Cut Killer	...	DJ Atomic
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Axelle Cummings	...	Stephan's girlfriend (as Axelle Grelet)
Juliet Dunn	...	Smoking girl
Jane Gilchrist	...	Subway Ticket Seller
Kentaro	...	Guy Unicorn
Joe Paparone	...	Warehouse Supervisor
Jérôme Pradon	...	The director
Sarah Pratt
Raphaël
Thierry René	...	Bruno (as Thierry Ashanti)
Cybèle Villemagne

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief language.

Runtime:

89 min | Australia:93 min | Argentina:92 min

Country:

France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 | France:U | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Europa Corp.

Soundtrack:

The young MC

kinda terrible

I just read a review that told me the female lead, star of this movie, was a dancer in real life. I'm no dancing machine, but she just didn't dance very well in this movie. Her moves looked exactly the same as all the extras who were in the movie. She just got framed a little more properly. At least choreograph something a little more interesting. For a movie about a dancer whose entire life was about dancing and mesmerizing others with her moves, she was wildy wildy wildy average. Don't expect any Janet Jackson or even Britney Spears. Expect the cool girl at a party somewhere in some college kid's parents' summer home. Another big complaint was the direction. This director, another protege of Luc Besson, did not know the American culture very well, or Americans very well, nevermind the subculture of hiphop. His car-commerical type green-and-red tone looked totally out of place. Many interesting cuts and wild camera movements, but added nothing to the movie. The way he filmed the actors, especially black actors, was very obvious through a foreigner's gaze. People looked objectified. And many sets in the movie--the audition studios, the clubs, the streets of New York, all looked like exaggerated versions of sets from other American movies. The director probably has never been to very many hip clubs. And nevermind the science labs. The sci-fi elements of this movie was grade-b tv material. It was offered late in the movie as some kind of cheap deus ex-machina. So a mute girl can't get respect as a dancer because she's mute, what does she do? Oh, just turn to a scientist whose new advice can turn your moves into post-new age electronic music that sounds like retreads from The Fifth Element (oh yeah, of course, and a little Bjork here and there just to be safe.)

The music and the images at no point of time really connected, it shows how far we've gone from those MGM musicals movies where the lines may be crappy and the filmmakers may be racist, but at least the dance sequences were good. Or 10 years ago when Michael Jackson was still making music videos.

But the movie is harmless, its visual is pretty smooth so you can turn off the sound and just kinda stare at it, kinda like a really colorful lava lamp. If you must watch it, it probably won't kill you.