February Follow-Up and Introducing March

So February has come and gone. I was thinking a bit last night about how this month went, and judging by how many people clicked on the reviews of the movies, it seems to have gone quite well! I hope you enjoyed what I wrote up about the movies because I really enjoyed watching them. Phew, I'm really tired, but I want to get this done because I've been terrible all month about blogging. I've just been so busy!

So here is my top ballet movie list, based on the movies I watched this past month (and The Red Shoes and Black Swan added to the mixture). If you're sad that I didn't like a movie as much as you did or that I didn't watch a movie you love, leave a comment! And since these are just my opinions, be sure to take them with a grain of salt. I'm not a film expert so I don't really know what I'm looking for outside of entertainment value.

8.) Ballet Shoes (1975)

Poorly acted and awkward dancing. I was ready for this movie to end. Was it the worst movie I've ever seen? No, but that doesn't mean I had to enjoy it either.This was made for little girls, and it can't compare to its newer remake.

7.) Black Swan

 I had a really hard time placing this movie. It was either this movie or The Turning Point in this spot. I liked neither. I enjoyed neither, but this film got knocked down after much consideration for several factors: 

1) Natalie didn't dance her parts. And if she did do any, it was not the girl from Turning Point, who did fantastically; 

2) Ballet was featured more in Turning Point. In Black Swan it's just sort of....there. Mixed in with some Swan Lake; 

3) Turning Point didn't have blatantly obvious symbolism and precede to beat me over the head with it every several seconds. 

For those three reasons and those three reasons only, Black Swan is in my #7 slot. I wanted to like you, Black Swan, but sorry. I just liked the other movies a lot more. Perhaps we should go on and see other films? No, no, don't cry. It's not you; it's me. No, wait...it's you. Move out, please.

6.) Turning Point

I just couldn't get into this film. It had a decent story with decently developed dialogue but something just felt dead inside. I don't know what it was from because I really couldn't put my finger on it, but something tells me that the story is just lacking. It was a forgettable film for me, and I probably won't really remember it in the long run. Despite my impartiality toward this movie, it wasn't bad. The dancing was done by the actors. Emotions were portrayed nicely by the actors, too. It was a nice film, but not one of my favorites.

5.) Suspiria

Dario Argento... I used to cringe at your name... thinking that all you were was some crackpot old fool who liked to film his own daughter naked. Okay, so I still think you've got some issues, but I actually really enjoyed Suspiria. For a horror movie, and one coming out of the 70s, it wasn't too bad! When I imagined little girls playing the roles, it made it a lot more exciting and horrifying. Yes, it's tacky, but that's exactly what I was expecting and that's what I got. Plus, you've got a great horror theme that isn't from a classical piece. You were either going to be here, Suspiria, or in Ballet Shoes (2007)'s spot. I downgraded you because I think I'd rather watch Ballet Shoes again first, and I thought the acting was significantly better. Also, it had a stronger ballet focus. 

4.) Ballet Shoes (2007)

Yes, I'm surprised I put this movie above Turning Point and Black Swan, too, but I just liked this movie so much more. The girls were all great at playing bratty little girls. The little girl, Posy, dances her parts nicely, Emma Watson has a brilliant cry scene, and I liked the period setting. I felt enveloped into their world, which is exactly what I want a movie to do. For a television movie, I thought it was quite brilliant and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The movie would appeal to more than just little girls thanks to the great acting from the entire cast. The only problem is that this doesn't have a lot of ballet in it, like Suspiria.

3.) The Company

For a movie without a solid plot, I sure enjoyed this movie! There was enough going on for me to stay interested, but it was not structured. If anything, this felt more like a window into reality than a movie. I felt it was an honest movie. Plus, I loved the dance numbers. This movie had its drama, comedy, and romance. I went in completely neutral and came out quite happy with the movie I watched. Would I watch it again? Sure, why not? Is it my favorite movie? Probably not.

2.) Margot

I am incredibly impressed by this movie. The settings were great. The dancing was great. The editing was great. The acting was great. I found this movie incredibly underrated and didn't receive the publicity it deserves. Yes, this is a made-for-television movie, but the story has many messages it wants to send, and I feel it is quite successful in doing so. 

1.) The Red Shoes

 

I LOVE this movie. I can't say more. It has the right amount of surrealism, dance, drama, and romance for me to watch this movie again and again. It's the only movie of this list that I include as one of my personal favorites. The more you watch it, the more you catch on and notice. LOVE, love, LOVE this movie!


And that concludes my list of top movies for the past month!
March will be Youtube month. This is where I post clips I find on Youtube because I find them interesting in some way, shape, or form! I hope you liked February's month of movies!

Review-- Margot

Phew! Just in time! This review is of the movie, Margot. It is a made-for-television British movie and based off the real-life events of famous ballerina, Margot Fonteyn. This is definitely one of the lesser known movies featuring ballet, and I almost passed it up. So let's see how they did!

Story:

Story is about an older ballerina who is married to a revolutionary and Panamanian ambassador named Tito. Margot's marriage and career are strained as she struggles to balance each in her life. Meanwhile, a new Russian dancer named Rudi is sent to her apartment to stay. Problems with the Russian government make it is hard for the British company to get Russian dancers, so finding him means they have to make sure he has a place to stay. 

Since Margot is the prima ballerina and the Russian dancer is a favorite with the audience, they are quickly paired together for ballets. Margot starts to fall for him just a bit... but he seems to have as much interest in girls as guys. She isn't sure if she should let herself love him or not until after a single performance. During curtain calls, he turns to her and realizes that he is willing to start a more serious relationship with her.

Meanwhile, her husband sells her jewels without telling her to pay for guns for the revolution. He flirts with other women at a party and openly insults her and embarasses her in front of their guests; her marriage is now even more stressed. Her dominating mother tries to make decisions for her, and feeling trapped, she turns to her crush for comfort. He dumps his boyfriend, and Margot has an affair with him. Their love inspires their dancing, and the audience loves them more than ever.

But is this really what Margot wants? How should she balance her work (put under pressure by her failing body and aging) and her home life (strained by the revolution and infidelity)?

I'm a little lost on how to describe this movie without making it sound boring. Yes, the plot is slightly cliché. A woman falls for a younger man.... affairs.... we've heard it before. Yet I really enjoyed it. Her aging is lightly touched upon without having it slammed into our faces. Her feet becoming more and more damaged is shown but not spoken.

It's very nicely done, but the core elements might be a dead ringer for many other movies out there. Still, not bad at all. I really can't think of much else to comment on.

Characters:

The actress who played Margot did an excellent job. She conveyed sorrow convincingly, and danced the ballet portions nicely. Clever camera tricks were used for parts she couldn't perform, but the ones she did act in were really nice. I swear she even does a pirouette at one point. Not bad! I was most certainly impressed. I don't know who this actress is, but this movie reminds me that more people can act than just A-list actors and actresses.

I really wish that Rudi had a bit more background related to us. All we know is that 1) he's a good dancer, 2) he's Russian, and 3) he's bisexual. That's just not enough for me. I think he even dances his parts! And if he doesn't, then they did a wonderful job finding the perfect stunt double for him. Granted, he doesn't dance often, but when he does, it's not too shabby! I also really liked the actor who played his part. For all I know, he's really Russian.

I wish the mother character was drawn out a bit more. At the very end, Margot spits out all her grudges against her mother, but we really don't see much tension between them. Sometimes they disagree, but Margot always politely sweeps the mother's comments aside. This idea of an overbearing mother is really interesting, but it doesn't really look into it as much as I would like. 


The man who played Tito played a good guy-you-like-to-hate (no picture of him because I forgot). His blatant lack of respect for his wife is just infuriating. Granted, Margot also cheated at one point, so who am I to pass judgment? Still, a really nice job from all the actors and actresses in this movie. They all did phenomenally.

Sets/Costumes:

I LOVE the sets and costumes! Everything had to be in this time period, so everything had to be just right. I loved the ballet studio, stage, and costumes. They were all absolutely wonderful. The sets took time to fill in the extra details like tutus hanging up on hangers and the rosin for dance shoes.

Music:

The movie used mostly music from famous ballets. These mostly being Tchaikovsky's. Not much to say since they are classical pieces, after all.

Camera:

The camera was really great. They got some really nice shots in, like the ballet studio picture above, that really gave you a sense of space and dynamics. Other times, there were awkward zooms. Though, to be honest, they actually may have been done on purpose. These awkward zooms were during interviews, which may have been the effect they wanted for this type of setting.

The character is about to go on stage. The camera cleverly edits out the actress for her body double as she passes past the curtains and makes her entrance.

Also, the editing inbetween body doubles is BRILLIANT. I love it! My most favorite and ingenious example is near the very beginning during Swan Lake. The actress prepares to go on. She passes by the side curtain and the body double takes her place as the camera pans over with the character onto the stage. The seamless edit makes it a really nice transition, and I appreciated the thought that went into it.

Ballet Presence:

The actress and her body double did a great job dancing, but even the actress had to learn how to move for the ballet portions. She even learned to spot and can do a single pirouette. I'll be shocked if someone told me she learned this much for the role because I was really impressed with how well she did for what she was given. By making the actress at least appear to dance in one shot, it gave us the illusion she really could dance. Clever editing doesn't always pull through with deceiving the audience. At least, not this audience.

 I did like how the ballet bits they performed matched up with what stage their relationship was at. Like Giselle picking the petals off the flower was matched with Margot and Rudi first dancing together, and also Odile/Odette being two sides of the same coin when Margot is leading a sort of "double life." Though there were times this didn't work so well, it was nicely done overall.

The dancers were mostly shot from behind so you couldn't see the stunt doubles. When there was a move that the actors could perform, that's when they shot from the front. Though this got old after awhile, it was still nice to see them perform. They performed quite a few pieces from ballets. There was Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere, and at least two others that I can't remember the names of right off the top of my head.

The man who played Rudi, I think, danced part of La Bayadere. I really liked him, too. I thought they both did wonderful jobs.

Overall Enjoyment:

For a made for television movie, this is GREAT. It's well shot, it's a period piece to boot, and they were really clever about hiding their smaller budget. They blackened the theatre and shot the dancers from behind mostly to hide the lack of extras. Very clever, if you ask me. Still, I wish they shot the dancers from the front more often, though it's quite understandable.

The actress playing Margot was fantastic, and so were all the other players. This is definitely what I consider a hidden gem. Maybe it's not for you, but for a ballet movie, I found it pretty amazing.

Review-- Suspiria

Well, guys. I totally blew it. It's only been a couple months and I've already found an error. In my review of Black Swan, I said:

[Black Swan] is also quite original. I mean, how many ballet horror movies can you name? Yeah, I couldn't think of any either.

Well, not only is that a sack of bull, but the movie in question was directed by Dario Argento, no less! This movie, called Suspiria, was released in the late 70s, and I'll be damned if Black Swan didn't get a lot of inspiration from this movie (as well as Perfect Blue, but I digress). So let's just dive into this puppy and see how it does.

And unfortunately, the program I use to get screencaps didn't like this movie for some reason, so the edges of the pictures will look jagged.

The name "Suspiria," as far as I can tell, means nothing. I don't know what it has to do with the movie, I don't know if it's in another language... no clue.

Story:

I will try to comment on the story without giving too much away. The plot doesn't actually reveal itself fully until near the end, and once it hits, it's a bit of a surprise. I wouldn't want to ruin that.

The story is about an American girl named Suzy traveling to Germany to attend a ballet school. When she arrives, she witnesses a young woman bursting out of the boarding building and run off into the night. The next day, that same young woman has been found murdered. Series after series of strange events occur, until Suzy's friend develops a suspicion that something more sinister is growing. Meanwhile, Suzy has been struck with strange patterns of fatigue and begins loosing patches of her memory. So what on earth is going on at this ballet school? Imagine young girls at a boarding, ballet school. Makes it a lot more ominous.

Now, this story is actually not too bad. It's almost like a fairy tale. If you ignore the gruesomely violent death scenes. Most important about this movie, and if you want it to be a bit more chilling, is to imagine the characters as children. No really, the characters already behave strangely. I actually popped onto imdb.com to see what they were saying, and, guess what, the movie was written to be about children! They only swapped out to adults so the movie wouldn't be banned. The script never changed, so adults are now speaking childishly.

Otherwise, there's not much to say about the story. It's almost like Rosemary's Baby tied in with The Chainsaw Massacre. That may not be the best example, but there you have it. This is movie is heavy, heavy, heavy on the gore, but definitely better than some of Dario Argento's other films, such as Phantom of the Opera. GAG ME WITH A SPOON. This movie is not too scary, but it's definitely suspenseful. If you don't know what's coming, you'll be in for a little surprise.

Characters:

The main character is named Suzy, and next in line would be her friend, Sara. These are both girls that go to the boarding/ballet school. Suzy gets tired real easily and is put on special diet, no doubt part of the evil presence's doing, and Sara is a bit paranoid. In fact, her psychiatrist speaks with Suzy at one point, making you wonder if this is all a big exaggeration by Sara.

The actress who plays Suzy is named Jessica Harper. It took me forever to realize where she was from so I did an search and she's Phoenix from Phantom of the Paradise! Hahaha, how about that? Anyway, she did a pretty decent job. She pulled off behaving like a little girl really well; plus, she looks a bit like a little girl! Costume crew did a great job with her hair and outfits to make her look a bit younger than she's supposed to be. Sometimes her acting was a bit over the top, but it wasn't too bad. I'm willing to forgive.

This story is not so much character driven as it is plot driven. You're not going to know all about Suzy's long-lost mother or Sara's super dark past.

Sets/Costumes:

Despite their dated look, I actually really liked their outfits. I know that's weird, but Suzy wears this lovely dress that makes her look amazing. The cut is not really in style anymore, but it looked awesome. For the ballet portions, everyone just wore leotards. Hard for that to ever be out.

Love this dress! Plus, check out this set!

The sets also feature really bright colors. These vary from bright red, blue, green, and sometimes just a white light. There's definitely a strong color scheme to the sets. I'm not sure if it's just spotlights or post-production that makes the colors, but I decided to add it on here.

 This really added to the surreal feeling of the movie and made it seem almost dreamlike. It definitely didn't belong in this dimension. I'm a bit tied with whether I enjoyed this effect or not. I'm going to say "like" because it brought the movie up a notch and made it different.

Music:

Wow, music. Well, there was this really annoying banshee music. And it felt like they played the same three pieces over and over during the movie. 

BUT....

The main theme is absolutely amazing. It's the perfect music for a horror movie. It sounds light and dainty, but so dark and eerie. I love it. Hands down one of the best horror themes and it's going on my iPod this Halloween for sure. You can listen to it here.

Camera:

Cinematography was great! No really, it was really well shot. Who knew a horror film could actually do a pretty decent job balancing action?

It's hard to tell here because it's a still picture, but the balance of light and dark, the balance of moving verus static. It's really well done. 

It's quite amazing. And if I noticed, it was probably doing a damn good job because I normally don't pay attention to these kinds of things. Then again, I am doing a review on this, so that may have changed the way I noticed things.

Ballet Presence:

 Okay, so there was almost no ballet. The actors didn't do their own dancing and when the did it was painful. Don't look at me like that! I mean it, they were en pointe but I don't think they had proper training judging by how some of them held themselves. Others did look like they knew what they were doing, but still, ballet was not a strong feature in this movie.

 To give the film credit, they filmed the ballet sequences rather nicely. I liked the balanced shots and how the camera moved in accordance with the dancers. Nice job! Though the writers, Argento and someone else, got some major facts wrong about ballet (for instance, you don't share pointe shoes! They are specifically for the dancer!), but it was nice overall. What little we got of it, anyway.

Overall Enjoyment:

Don't freak out... it's just red wine ;)

 I'm not going to lie: I enjoyed this movie. Quite a bit more than I expected to, actually. I even went into this with strong biases against Argento's work, but still got some entertainment out of it. Any movie that you go in hating and come out liking means they did something right, and I think that this movie deserves some credit for that. Is it kind of hokey? Oh yes. Is there much ballet? No. Did I at least enjoy myself and feel some relation to the movie? Yes. Still, this movie is pretty gory. Don't watch if you don't like that sort of thing.

Review-- The Turning Point

 For this week, I watched the movie, The Turning Point! This movie was nominated for a lot of Oscars, but like I say about Oscars, I almost never like the movies that the Academy picks. So, let's see how this movie does!

 Story:

The story is about two women named DeeDee and Emma (played by Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft respectively). Both are friends, and both were fierce rivals in ballet. But DeeDee decides to get married and have children while Emma pursues a career in dance. Years later, two meet again as Emma's company drops by DeeDee's town. Meeting with each other again reminds the other woman of all the opportunities she's missed. Emma, out of either kindness or a longing for a daughter, semi-adopts DeeDee's daughter, Amelia. Amelia is a dancer, too. Emma helps Amelia enter the company. DeeDee is not only worried that she is losing her daughter to her rival, but also that Amelia will make the same mistakes she made. The story is of these two women and of Amelia as they morn for lost dreams and begin new ones.

DeeDee and Emma

Sometimes I really like the story...and then sometimes I find it slightly bland. Sometimes I think it's rather realistic...and then sometimes I feel they are pushing my threshold of bullshit. There are times were the script is well-written and subtle where needed...then there are times when it's pretty much layered on us. For instance, Amelia is making eyes at the Russian dancer. A LOT. It's not too subtle. Then it immediately jumps to this weird dance sequence. I guess it's supposed to be symbolic, but they don't even know each other, so it comes off as sort of a joke. So, yeah...not so subtle. Other times, it shows a great understanding of human behavior. There's this one scene where Amelia and her mother are talking. Both think the other one is mad at her for something. It's a great use of common defense mechanisms.

There was also a bit where Amelia gets drunk but goes to perform. As funny as that was, she would be booted off the corps in a heartbeat. To even let her on, when a ballerina's core strength is inebriated, is also a shocker.
Also, Amelia just casually telling her mom she's on the pill and her mom's just, "oh, good girl." I couldn't imagine anyone's mom being like that. Amelia even says that her mom's straitlaced later on, but what straitlaced mother would be saying, "oh good girl," or even having that conversation to start with?

I did like the theme of "aging out" and becoming too old to make certain decisions. It's one that doesn't come up too often, and it certainly fits the bill for this blog. They did a pretty good job about delving into passion and art, too, and how these never go away with age. They only briefly touched on how perhaps the mother is living vicariously through her daughter, and that was during an explosive argument near the end of the movie. It's actually this argument that I think is my favorite part in the movie. I liked watching the two actresses hurl insults at each other and how all the skeletons came out.

Another theme that I felt was pretty powerful was "life's short; it's okay to mess up once in awhile." The women want to help Amelia from feeling the same pain they went through, but they finally learn that she needs to grow up, too, and the only way for her to do that would be to make mistakes. 

Characters:

The acting was pretty fine. Emma's actress did a great job with subtle facial expressions, though she did have the most convenient, sweet sounding hiccups. I wish mine conveniently didn't interrupt my speech making me sound like a drunken fool, too.

The daughter, Amelia, also did a great job. She was funny during the drunk scene and she did all of her own dancing, which I approve. The male Russian dancer who Amelia falls for was a phenomenal dancer, though maybe not the greatest actor. Granted, he probably didn't have enough lines for me to even judge.

Sets/Costumes:

Nothing much to comment on here. It's a movie from the seventies and it shows its age. And I really wished people in the 70s movies wore bras. Seriously.

 

Music:

Music is mostly played during the ballet sequences, which are often, or the practice sequences, also often. These are classical pieces, and I really can't say much more than that.

Camera:

The camerawork seemed fine to me. There were some times where I wanted to see more of the dancers' body, but it was very rare. They did a good job covering Emma's actress' lack of dancing ability. What they showed me was satisfying enough, but not insulting to my intelligence.

Playbill effect

Near the end, there are several short acts of ballets. They would project the playbill over the beginning of each act so you could recognize which dancer is performing. I really appreciated this since once you get everyone in makeup with their hair done up, everyone looks the same.

When the Russian dancer was dancing though, (and as cool as this shot was) you could see the cameraman's shadow in the spotlight! Whoops!

Oh hi, camera crew!

Ballet Presence:

I liked the dancing a lot. I love it when actresses and actors can dance their own parts. Though the actress that played Emma didn't do her own parts, they did a pretty good job of editing her bits out. When it does come time for her ballet, she was a tad awkward, but she handled it nicely. 

 Amelia's character is a beautiful dancer. She smiles a lot when she dances, but she dances gorgeously. The Russian dancer (I think he's called Yuri?) is also AMAZING. HOLY CRAP. Just look at that air on the picture above. Yeah. He's awesome. I could watch him dance all day.

Ah... ah hem. Anyways, enough with the worshiping... The ballet company puts on several ballets. Some of them were more modern while others were the more traditional types. These traditional ballets were of Swan Lake, Giselle, and Don Quixote.

 

 

See? Quite a bit of ballet! This movie definitely has a strong focus on dancers.

Overall Enjoyment:

I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Is it a good movie? Yes. Is it a great movie that deserves all of the Oscar nominees it was nominated for? Probably not. (But there we go again with Oscars!) Would I recommend watching it? Sure! Why not! This is probably as good as dance movies are going to get. I still like The Red Shoes the best, though I have to give this movie about 6 out of 10 stars. The story was really slow moving, but I would still probably watch this again than Black Swan. Then again, both are rather bland.... oh who cares. Watch what you want. Why do should you care about my opinion anyway?