The Dancer Upstairs (2002)

Waste of time

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Absolutely brilliant

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's Latin America in the Recent Past. Agustín Rejas (Javier Bardem) is a Sergeant manning a road check. The country is corrupt with a militaristic Presidency. Rejas is a former lawyer ready for a promotion in the capital. A mysterious man with others and a dead dog in a truck escape the checkpoint. Then it's five years later. He's a police Lieutenant. With his young partner Sucre (Juan Diego Botto), he's investigating a mysterious revolutionary group led by Ezequiel. They hang dogs from the lamp posts. The violence escalates as leaders get assassinated. Yolanda (Laura Morante) is Rejas' daughter Laura's dance teacher. He begins an affair with her as he suspects her connection to Ezequiel.The non-specificity of the time and place could have been improved by weaving the real story into this movie. It doesn't have to be perfect and most movies aren't real biographies anyways. The great aspect of this is Bardem and the sense of Latin America that this projects. John Malkovich is directing for the first time and he shows some competency. It is well-made and most importantly, he focuses on Bardem. The story does leave some questions. The ballet teacher's connections to everyone is very convenient. The investigation is not that clear. I don't know how nebulous the book is but adapting may have left something out of the movie. It would help to have great clarity, and better intensity.

You've got to give John Malkovich credit for his directorial debut: instead of making some corny, expositionary thriller, he instead made this stylised, impressionistic film that eschews conventional causality and contrivance in favour of showing us just a scattering of glimpses at an elusive story. And the piece definitely has an atmosphere, but watching it, one has the feeling one might have at an art gallery, the images are powerful but lack connections, and the closed characters also give little away. The fact that the drama takes place in an unnamed South American country, and one whose inhabitants speak English in a (presumably deliberate but still bewildering) variety of accents maybe doesn't help; that in the absence of specifics, this is a story taking place in a country of the mind. It's still an intelligent and occasionally beguiling film: but I'm not convinced of the substance behind the effect.

(SOME SPOILERS AHEAD)Even though I realize that he is very right-wing, I still found this film intriguing. It took me a while to realize it was indeed the Shining Path movement that this was loosely based on. Even the leader of this movement looks a bit like Guzman. I have to say the settings were beautiful (filmed in Ecuador and Spain apparently). The opening scene where the lead detective meets his future nemesis was well constructed, and it instantly imbued the revolutionary leader with a mysterious edge when he talks of 'this country gives me a rash', which the policeman responds to with 'the countryside?' and the man replies with 'yes, that too'. As others have pointed out, there was a clichéd element to it (and the English speaking Spanish actors could have been speaking Spanish, but we all know how American producers and studios as well as cinema goers hate 'foreign movies with subtitles'!!!)....however, it is still original work as we get an insight into the bizarre displays of terrorism by this group (hanging dogs, child bombers, etc) and of course the panicky, paranoid response of the government and military who always demand to know 'are we in a revolution?'. The sub-plot of the relationship between the detective and the ballet dancer is a bit predictable and unnecessary I thought. Of course there is passion and love during political turmoil but this was over-the-top. Also, you're given the sense that the people involved in this group are all brainwashed automatons who 'fell prey to the charismatic leader', which is not true of the vast majority of rebel movements. The Shining Path had some legitimate grievances against state repression but unfortunately Malko ultimately portrays them as irrational murderers (with the suicide bombings into cafes, etc which plays to his rather violent and irrational pro-Israeli views on 'terrorism') Overall though, a stylish and watchable film, though tinged with some right wing propaganda that comes out during the middle and towards the end of the film. Homosexual reactionaries will enjoy it immensely as good looking male cops battle the evidently feminine world of the revolutionary movement.

I would expect a movie directed by John Malkovich to be intense and specific. The Dancer Upstairs is that. It is a political movie that while popular in Europe, does not tend to draw well in the United States. Too bad.The story tells the tale of a lawyer who has left the law looking for a better system. I don't know that becoming a police detective is that much better, but it serves the story. The story is set in a nameless Latin American country -- which also suits the story line.Detective Lt. Agustín Rejas (Javier Bardem) has left a law firm where he was a junior partner, to join law enforcement -- with a conscious. He can give a break to a traveler whose papers are not quite right and he can be relentless in his pursuit of a terrorist.Rejas has been victimized by the politics of his country. His father lost his coffee farm to the soldiers. His view of the judicial system has seen a rapist become president of the country. But still, Rejas finds joy in his beautiful dancer daughter and his wife -- who has a political mission of her own. Then he meets the free spirited dance instructor for his daughter.Rejas works in a corrupt society where the fiscal corruption goes hand in hand with the moral and political corruption. The central government is all too ready to suspend civil rights and to put military law into effect. The military killing innocent people is fine as long as it suits the party.Rejas attempts to live the just life and must deal with the corruption the best he can. This conflict is the heart of the movie. As he says, he has feelings about his father losing his farm and he is the Gary Cooper type.Javier Bardem is excellent in the pivotal role. Juan Diego Botto does a very credible job as Detective Sgt. Sucre. Laura Morante is intoxicating as dance instructor focal point of the story.I give this move a 9 for great story and suspense, excellent direction and fine acting. There is no sex and very brief nudity. The violence does tend to be horrific and there are depictions of cruelty to animals -- both central to the plot. This is far less than the typical Jason or Chainsaw movies gore.I consider this an excellent direction debut for John Malkovich and look forward to his next feature film effort. It feels like Malkovich will fill a role similar to Robert Redford in films he has directed.