Review of The Dancer Upstairs (2002) by Hannibal O — 24 Jul 2008

Its so cute when Latin American countries attempt to maintain a democracy. They never work and you just want to pat them on the head and give them a gold star for trying. Anyway, this film is loosely based on real life events that occurred in Peru (wait, let me rephrase that: this film is based on shit that goes down in Latin American countries ALL the time).

Javier Bardem plays it low-key this time in contrast to his role in No Country for Old Men. As a character in the film puts it, Bardem plays the Gary Cooper role. He plays a lawyer who left his field because of the (shock!) corruption and decides to become a police detective, which is not much of a step up if you're trying to be a fair upholder of justice.

The film goes at a smooth and slow pace, which I really liked because it gives you time to absorb the characters and the settings of the story. By the time you reach the climax, there is a more satisfying feeling to see what happens.

I was actually surprised by Malkovich's direction considering this is his first directing gig. He directs like an experienced filmmaker, which, given the material here, is very hard to pull off. The story is pretty ambitious for a first-timer and Malkovich did a great job in telling us the story.

Some of you may be put off by the use of dead dogs to convey the terrorists' message, but I guess thats to be expected. I thought it was a very effective way of showing how far this group was willing to go to get its message across to the government.

There is not a whole lot of action/suspense sequences, but the few we get are intense and brutal. There was an actor in this film who I particularly enjoyed and who I have not seen before: Juan Diego Botto.

He's excellent in his role and the only actor whose English you'll be able to understand without having to resort to the subtitles.