The Dancer Upstairs is an awesome film coming from a first time director. The story is fiction based on fact as it follows the Bardem character in search of a terrorist leader who wants to be the next communist superstar (damn that Karl Marx). The film unfolds beautifully it developed perfectly as the tension hits at the right moments. There are scenes of peacefulness as well as when Bardem's character goes to the counrtyside of the unnamed Latin American country in question (Peru). The female lead Laura Morante does an excellent job as the Latin dancer in question. Bardem portrayal is not boring or underplayed it is perfect for the character he is playing. His reaction at the end of the film as he watches his daughter dance to 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes', as performed by Nina Simone, is priceless and heartbreaking. The film's use of this song in the beginning and the end of the film is pricesless as well. An excellent film.
Review of The Dancer Upstairs
The Dancer Upstairs
(2002)
Bardem is great. Malkovich proves to be a masterful director
6 October 2003