Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20035 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-20
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Italian, Quechua, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 127 minutes

Synopsis
The directorial debut of John Malkovich, THE DANCER UPSTAIRS is a riveting political drama set in an undetermined Latin American city. A revolution has started, and the local police have been assigned to figure out who is leading it and what exactly the revolutionaries want. Agustin Rejas (Javier Bardem) is the detective leading the investigation. However, with the military involved and corrupt government officials making Rejas's job especially difficult, he faces constant frustrations. The leader of the revolution goes by the name Ezequiel, but the police cannot figure out his true identity. Even more beguiling are the increasingly violent terrorist incidents that appear to be carried out by children who swear their loyalty to Ezequiel with no explanation of why. Caught up in the middle of the revolution and Rejas's investigation are his wife, his young daughter, and his daughter's lovely ballet teacher, Yolanda (Laura Morante). One event after the next adds to the suspense and nagging anxiety felt by Rejas, until finally, with one shocking discovery, everything becomes frighteningly clear.
Combining a serious political drama with a tender and introspective look at a man in mid-life, THE DANCER UPSTAIRS has something for every viewer. Its scenes of violence and terror are offset with truly artistic and romantic moments, using excellent photography, striking sets, and graceful acting to bring cohesion to the duality of the plot.

Customer Reviews

A real disgrace!
This film shows clearly that a good actor should just stick to his role, leaving the direction to who has that competence or talent. The Dancer Upstairs shows an extremely poor direction since the opening, followed by poor script, poor photography, poor music down to even a wrong title! The cast is of student level and the protagonist, Javier Bardem, one of my favorite actors [The Sea Inside, Before Night Falls] victim of probably the worst direction of his career. What to say? They didn't even get the title right, in fact the dancer, who is the lover, is actually downstairs not upstairs!!! This film will disappoint you, don't be tempted by the price.

decent account
Alas, as a directorial debut for multi-talented actor John Malkovich, "The Dancer Upstairs" deserves recognition as a solid and idiosyncratic work in and of itself, albeit having somewhat flimsy points towards the last quarter.

The story is set in recent past in an unnamed Latin American country where Agustin Rejas, a decent, idealistic yet depressive cop, is torn apart between two chaotic worlds. The former is physical one where morally and politically corrupt, thoroughly rotten society is under the imminent threat of revolution by a fanatical Maoist underground organization led by an enigmatic leader named Ezequiel. His minions unleash terror and inflict chaos through violent political assassinations, sabotages, child suicide bombers, unexplained blackouts and even macabre propogandas by hanging hundreds of dead dogs on the lampposts as warning signs. On the flip side, the political corruption is so pandemic that it's unclear whether the legitimate government, a fascist dictatorship indeed, is more trustworthy and less murderous than bloodthirsty rebels. Aiming for as realistic and non-Hollywood approach as possible, Malkovich did a brilliant job at capturing the mood of a city on the brink of crumbling to pieces.

On the other hand, the film's emotional subtext comes from another environment in that the other source of conflict is the interior world of Rejas. He's trapped between his overly shallow wife and attractive ballet teacher. I must say that the political dimension works very well but this emotional part and the "high tragedy" mode is the weakest part of the film, and unfortunately it adds a touch of uncredibility to the plot. Their relationship is somewhat forced and half-baked at times which undermines the believability of Rejas' actions on her behalf. Another problem is that there are lots of (im)proper coincidences leading to the capture of Ezequiel. This creates another credibility issue too.

Overall, "The Dancer Upstairs" is a decent political thriller (yet falling short of being a classic), a genre made popular by directors such as Costa-Gavras, Alan J. Pakula and John Frankenheimer in the late 1960s and 70s. Javier Bardem's performance in the central role is the glue that holds the movie together. If you like movies with slow beginnings and fast endings, it's probably worth the investment. (3.5/5.0)

WOW!
Wow - this is a fantastic film. A true gem. I'd give this 6 out of 5 if I could.