Review of White Nights (1985) by Timothy S — 05 Sep 2012

It obviously sounded like a great idea to someone, getting two of the best contemporary dancers together in one film. Their styles are different, but no one would argue that Gregory Hines and Mikail Baryshnikov are amazing at what they do. Unfortunately, "White Nights" is the film that brings them together, and while it is immensely watchable, it is also terribly silly and contrived.

I was hooked right from the beginning with an airline disaster returning Baryshnikov to Russia, but the story becomes more of a soap opera the longer it goes on. And much like soap operas, it's quite entertaining but this project should have been a lot more compelling. It's rather difficult to get over the basic premise; that a defected Russian dancer is forced to room with a defected American dancer, but I could accept that and get on with the rest of the film. The problem is that the rest of it is only marginally easier to swallow that that impractical set-up.

The two stars are surprisingly believable in their roles, strong enough in fact to carry the entire picture quite effortlessly. They naturally shine, however, in the dance umbers that are peppered into this preposterous Cold War plot. Watching them move is hypnotizing, and it's enough to forgive the weak plot that forces them unnaturally together. There's little other reason to see this.

The two women in the film, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini, are merely there to react to things going on around them, and film director Jerzy Skolimowski is hilariously absurd as the Russian Colonel. "White Nights" is a fairly entertaining throwback to a bygone era in film, but it should have been so much more than that.