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Mad Hot Ballroom


laleo
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My daughter and I saw this last night. It's a documentary, along the lines of Spellbound, but instead of spelling bees, this one is about a program in the NYC public schools that teaches kids -- aged 10 or 11 or so -- how to ballroom dance. Then the most talented kids are paired up to compete in a city wide contest, each school represented by a team, with teams being disqualified with each level of competition.

I liked the editing a little better in Spellbound. That movie had an wry edge to it that is missing in Ballroom, but this movie was still fun, capturing quite a few very human moments as these kids learned to interact on the dance floor. Anyone who was ever ten will probably be able to identify with at least one of the characters, if not all of them in their awkwardness, hesitancy, and innocence. It's part coming of age, part slice of life, part urban reality.

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If Ballroom is out of the theaters, you (or more likely, your wife) might like Ladies in Lavender. Maybe. It's very slow-paced, just like the elderly British sisters who are the main characters. The sisters are in the throes of old age, and the longing and loneliness that accompanies it. Then a young man -- an accomplished Polish violinist, it turns out -- is inexplicably washed up on the beach, laying unconscious, and the ladies find him and take him in to nurse him back to health. I liked this movie, but I can't say why since it's chock-full of cliches, from Ursula dropping her tea-cup when she hears upsetting news, to keeping a lock of Andrea's (the violinist's) hair. Maybe the cliches work because the themes are subtle. I don't know. But my daughter liked it, too. It's not as good as Whales of August (same genre), but it does capture that moment just before the outbreak of WWII; the calm before the storm. The audience knows what is about to hit, but the sisters don't.

If you prefer action, adventure, and drama, though, don't bother with this movie. In fact, it's so lacking in drama that it doesn't even explain how or why the violinist came to be washed up on shore, which is the only element of mystery in the movie.

Edited by laleo
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