Review of Blood Wedding (1981) by Edgar C — 17 Oct 2009

On the one hand, I am fond of the bare bones aesthetic on display in "Blood Wedding," featuring a dress rehearsal of a flamenco dance in a dance studio. Not only that but even as a newcomer to this artform, I was definitely impressed with the skills of the dancers and power of the drama.

On the other hand, in perhaps wanting to make sure the audience recognizes the amount of hard work that goes into this dance, including the warmup, the movie goes overboard with an obsessive's level of minutia that begins with the dancers and musicians arriving before they get dressed and apply their makeup. In the process, we learn details like how security conscious they are and how they decorate their mirrors, with a particular focus on their shoes. Admittedly, there is a nice bit of foreshadowing concerning the prop knives. And one part I also found interesting is the time we spend inside choreographer Antonio Gades' head in order to learn his story. Now, if only the same thing had been done for some of the other artists.