Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

Michael Radford (screenplay) and
David Linter (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 October 2001 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

five souls exposed

Plot:

A non-glamorous portrayal of the lives of people who make their living at a strip club.

Plot Keywords:

Strip Club | Poetry | Backstage | Hitman | Russian

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Charlotte Ayanna	...	Jessie
Kristin Bauer	...	Nico
W. Earl Brown	...	Bobby
Daryl Hannah	...	Angel
Chris Hogan	...	Dennis
Sheila Kelley	...	Stormy
Elias Koteas	...	Sully
Vladimir Mashkov	...	Sacha
Sandra Oh	...	Jasmine
Rodney Rowland	...	Charlie
Jennifer Tilly	...	Jo
Robert Wisdom	...	Eddie
David Amos	...	Dave
Carolyne Aycaguer	...	Sophie
R.C. Bates	...	Jimmy (as RC Bates)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive sexual content/nudity, language, some drug content and brief violence.

Runtime:

123 min | Argentina:126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:18A | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | France:U | Singapore:R21 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Moonstone Entertainment

Trivia:

'Sheila Kelley' originally conceived the idea for this film. It was supposed to be a story about incest between her character and the character played by Elias Koteas. Once the other actresses started improvising, it became more of an ensemble piece.

Goofs:

Factual errors: They say that the guitar they buy from the music store a Gibson Les Paul, but it isn't.

Quotes:

Angel: [Whistling and waving] Officer? Officer, could... could you help me with... I... Could you help take a picture of my... I want to take a picture of myself in front of this billboard.
Officer Pete Foster: Is that you?
Angel: Yeah.
Officer Pete Foster: Really.
Angel: I'm a lot smaller in person.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Strip Notes (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

Angel

Bittersweet and Melancholic

This movie is an outstanding example of "method" filmmaking -- in EVERY aspect: not only the actors, but the director, writers (which include the actors), and the crew all worked in this style, playing on instinct, on their gut reactions.

The performances are varied and uniformly excellent. The characters are intriguing and sometimes funny, though mostly sad. The actors all came up with their characters, did a lot of research and improvising, and the director supervised it all and brought it together (rather like a Mike Leigh film). The camera work is fine, as well, along with the sound, which incorporates a lot of overlapping dialog (rather like an Altman film).

Rent the DVD if you can and watch the documentary by Darryl Hannah, and listen to the TWO commentary tracks by some of the actors and by the director. It's all fascinating.