White Nights (1985)

Simply Perfect

Perfect cast and a good story

Must See Movie...

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Enjoy the view of Roland Petit's "Le Jeune Homme et La Morte" and Baryshnikov's famous "pas de deux with a chair" (finally captured on film)as an almost participant, and the two self-choreographed studio sequences of Baryshnikov and Hines with a camera that moves as quickly over, below, and above the dancers as the dancers themselves. Having seen Baryshnikov live several times (once with the Kirov, then ABT, and from backstage wings once or twice), I had no problem guessing the outcome of that ruble/pirouette bet. So glory in the dance sequences and the views of two masters at work, and an enterprising and creative director with a political heart. The music is great (I particularly remember the sticky rhythmic beat of "My love is chemical" by Lou Reed). Despite the obvious age that the picture shows "White Nights" is a beautiful movie, with spectacular dancing sequences, definitely worth watching. Personally to me, it is certainly a pity that the whole story is still as appealing as it was over twenty years ago.Overall, the acting is very good. Quite frankly, the pairing of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Greggory Hines and Isabella Rosselini is reason enough to see this film. Not that I'd recommend it to everybody. Sure, it feels kind of dated with the 80's music. And like every single dance movie I've ever seen, it's a little difficult to take it seriously when the characters suddenly stop their dialogue and dance because the screenplay says "insert stunning dance sequence here". In any case, I have always liked the tension in this movie, the struggle to be free and the dancing as a way to demonstrate all the forbidden thoughts and feelings. Baryshnikov and Hines were great dancing partners. Actually, just the dancing alone is worth watching this movie.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

I am not a dance fan, but dance is very important to this film, as is the story, and the theme song "Say You" by Lionel Ritchie. The best things about the film are the characters, and the way the film switches gears and tricks the audience (In a good way). These are characters you care about because of the hell they have went through and the best of them is without question Darya Greenwood (Isabella Rossellini), who is a Russian who is married to a black American defector to the USSR (Gregory Hines). You can see emotions written all over her face, throughout the film: Love and fear, being just two of them. Spoilers: As for the trickery you think the story is about 'Kolya' Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov), an ex- Bolshoi Ballet dancer who crashed in a plane and landed back in the USSR, and his relationship with Galina Ivanova (Helen Mirren). But rather it is about Raymond Greenwood (Gregory Hines), who made a major mistake years ago and defected to the USSR, and is being used as a pawn by Colonel Chaiko (Jerzy Skolimowski), who is great in this film (Second only to Rossellini in the acting department). At the end of the film Koyla and Darya make it to the US Embassy after a great car chase, and Raymond is finally exchanged for a low level spy, Greenwood says at the end: "I'm going home, for better or for worse, I'm going home." You know that it is Greenwood's story, because he is the one who ends up with the girl. 10/10 stars.

Mixed feelings about this one. Rented it in hopes of some good Baryshnikov dancing encased in an interesting plot. I got through only 30 minutes of it and packed it back to Netflix for the following day's mail. I relented the next day and decided I should at least check for any dance sequences. So I did, and fast-forwarded through most of the rest of the film, watching only enough to get me the general plot or good parts.The film stars Mikhail Baryshnikov, with Gregory Hines, Isabella Rossellini, and Helen Mirren. Yes, some big names there, but not put to the best use. The script is leaden and dull, the directing soporific. Hines looks lost as an actor, in his admittedly incongruous part of a black American tap-dancer who has defected to Russia because of racism in the U.S. The movie is about a famous Russian-American dancer (Baryshnikov) who crash-lands in the USSR and is apprehended as a former defector and forced to stay and hopefully dance. Hines and his new Soviet wife (Rossellini) are forced to babysit him and, along with the danseur's Russian ex-flame Mirren, convince him to dance at the upcoming opening night at the Kirov.Most of it was skip-worthy, but there's a great, passionate dance Baryshnikov does to a rousing banned Russian song. There's also a dancing duo between Baryshnikov and Hines which is quite lovely. Apart from a modern-dance snippet at the film's outset, and an 11-pirouette turn by Baryshnikov on a bet, that's all of his dancing. They really should have capitalized on his presence and given us a real showstopper to top off the film, but I guess that didn't fit the plot, such as it was.I wasn't really into Hines' numbers that much. There were a few dramatic scenes I stayed tuned for, and the shots of Leningrad are really great, but plot- and acting-wise this ended up being a tiny bit of a "Yes, Giorgio" (the Pavarotti flop), but not nearly that unwatchable. I did enjoy Baryshnikov whenever he was on screen, whether it was acting or dancing. The man is just magnetic, and very cinematic.As I got more into it, I decided to watch the "Making of" special feature snippets, which were actually better than the plot of the movie itself. Did you know that they couldn't film in Russia with Baryshnikov, because as a defector he was a criminal and feared re-capture and punishment? (They still got plenty of Leningrad exteriors, though.) And that Gregory Hines called him "Mike" for the duration, and Baryshnikov didn't object? (His usual sobriquet is "Misha.") And that Helen Mirren met her husband, director Taylor Hackford, on this set? And that half of Helen Mirren's family is Russian, and her birth name is Helen Mironoff?I'd give it a 6/10. Definitely worth it for Baryshnikov fans, but prepare to use fast forward if you tend to lose patience.

I don't have much to add to the wonderful commentaries already made, except that the dancing in this movie is spectacular. Hines is a fantastic actor and dancer. Baryshnikov is absolutely sublime in both his dance scenes and the raw emotion he shows in his desperation to return to American soil. He actually defected in real life, which was obviously a valuable experience to draw from in this movie. I love one of his lines: "I am still Russian, I am just not Soviet." Even though the cold was is (supposedly) over, this movie makes an excellent historic piece, as well as a wonderful dance movie. I can watch it over and over again, and still find it enjoyable.