Shall We Not Review Shall We Dance?
(An entry I half-wrote a while back and have now completed.)
I like to think that I possess enough maturity, intellect and aesthetic sensibilities to appreciate films that other people find challenging. I’m able to sit through films with slow-moving or even barely-existent plots, I’m not put off by films with content that may offend or anger, and I’m usually ready to let good acting from just one member of the cast save an otherwise unredeemable film experience.
But even by these standards, Shall We Dance was a real struggle.
I’m not actually going to talk about Shall We Dance, though; unlike other movies which have failed to impress me, it’s too forgettable even to bother excoriating. It’s just that Pei Ee and I had a long tradition of watching dance movies together to maintain, and we wanted to ogle Richard Gere. I just hope Alec will some day find it in himself to forgive Pei Ee’s husband for suggesting that we make it into a couples outing.
But anyway, the following entries will be scattered notes (not reviews per se, those require actual focus and knowledge) on some slightly better films I’ve watched in the last month or so, mostly just so I can remember I’ve watched them.
You’d best not be about to merk “Save the last dance” because it’s the best film since 2000 and the best film ever about racial tension in dance.
Laces,
maybe “save the last dance” is the best film ever about racial tension in dance, however it pales into insignificance when shown as the second part in a mid-night double bill with the “CITIZEN KANE” OF dance movies i.e.”Dirty Dancing” (rosebud, indeed)
I just read your Lost in Translation review – agree with every single word. ‘Nuff said. I haven’t actually seen any of the other films you talk about above, but I’m looking forward to catching Bad Education at some point – some (most?) of Almodovar’s stuff is incredible.
“Nobody puts Julie Cooper in a corner”
Laces, you are right in that I can’t come up with any other films which explore racial tension in dance so that would make Save The Last Dance the best. (How about Honey? I haven’t seen it, but would like to, especially after reading this review which says “Jessica Alba has one of two expressions in this movie. Hot. And hotly distraught.”)
It is sad that dance movies rarely take their social commentary above class divides, and then only as a crutch for the real theme of the movie which of course is PURSUING YOUR DREAMS. (Which is why the “MY DREAMS KILLED HER!!” line in Save The Last Dance is key to its uniqueness. I don’t think dreams have ever killed people in other dance movies.)
And Brian, although your regard for Dirty Dancing (just my favourite movie EVER) brings a smile to my face, I think Save The Last Dance would probably still be much better as the second part of the midnight double-bill than, say, Dirty Dancing TWO. (The horror…the horror.)
“I carried a watermelon.”
The only tension in honey is in Jessica Alba’s lycra shorts. It’s quite possibly the most boring cliched pile of crap ever committed to straight-to-dvd.
“The only tension in honey is in Jessica Alba’s lycra shorts.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
And it did get a run in the cinemas! I know, because I considered watching it.
It is a bad thing. It would’ve been way better if they’d dispensed with both plot and shorts and just had La Alba naked for 90 minutes.
ooh Save The Last Dance was the best. i was horrified when my friend got it mixed up with Shall We Dance and mistakenly trashed it.
other dance movies i’ve been biased towards:
~Footloose! (but how can one not like the title tune??)
~You Got Served
but this is purely “i like because i like, because i like, period”, you understand. :P i.e. no intelligent commentary available.
following the Lost In Translation reference, came across a mention of Last Life In The Universe… ’twas a beautiful dreamy film. albeit a little slow-paced, i.e. soon became too dreamy for much of the drunk 4am crowd at film camp… :P
Grace, the appeal of all dance movies for me is of the “I like because I like, because I like” variety! I wouldn’t be capable of making intelligent commentary about them that was positive! (Except for Strictly Ballroom, which has that Aussie weirdness thing going for it.)
Save the Last Dance is a fav. Black/White couples are soooo hot. I remember watching Strictly Ballroom on cable tv without knowing anything about it, nor that it was a Baz Luhrmann movie, and was absolutely captivated.
But aaahhhh…Dirty Dancing is the ultimate. I had many many fantasies as a pubescent girl being lifted from my hips, balancing on a rock and having my armpit tickled.
Hey Mich, we can have similar tastes in movies, actually! ;p
I wish they’d got a hotter actor for Save The Last Dance though. Maybe Tyrese turned the part down. That, or they didn’t think he could credibly play someone who wanted to go to medical school.
I had many many fantasies as a pubescent girl being lifted from my hips, balancing on a rock and having my armpit tickled.
You’ve made some Google sex perverts very very happy with that comment, Kelly. I’ll excite them even more by mentioning your great enthusiasm for ASIAN PUSSY!
Well, we certainly always had similar tastes in dancers. :)