The Dancer Upstairs

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DVD details

Actor: Javier Bardem, Juan Diego Botto, Lu?s Miguel Cintra, Marie-Anne Berganza, Montserrat Astudillo
Brand: BARDEM,JAVIER
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 135 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-09-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox

DVD Reviews of The Dancer Upstairs

DVD Review: Texture Over Flash and Bang....
Summary: 5 Stars

2003's "The Dancer Upstairs" is an underappreciated but very worthwhile departure from the standard movie drama. It is a thinly fictionalized account of the pursuit of the murderous head of the Peruvian Maoist terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). What could easily have been a flashy, violent thriller is, in Director John Malkovich's treatment, a slow-burning, richly textured movie centered on its characters and its location.

Javier Bardem is superb, and subtle, as a middle-aged detective charged with the pursuit of the leader of the terrorists. His edge is a chance encounter with the otherwise faceless suspect many years earlier. His methodical pursuit of a thin trail of clues is complicated by competition and corruption within the law enforcement community and by his own troubled personal life, not least his interest in his daughter's ballet teacher.

The movie's studiously even-handed presentation provides a textured look at the Peruvian society of the day, including our detective's uncertain links to his own Quechua heritage. This approach may distract viewers looking for police procedural content, but it imparts significant emotional content to the ending of the movie. "The Dancer Upstairs" is very highly recommended to the patient viewer looking for something different in a movie drama.

DVD Review: 2.5 stars out of 4
Summary: 3 Stars

The Bottom Line:

With a central mystery that never captivates the audience and a vacant performance by Javier Bardem in the lead, The Dancer Upstairs is a draggy and ho-hum political thriller that can be safely left on whatever shelf you find it.

DVD Review: well acted and tense drama
Summary: 4 Stars

An interesting film with fine acting - the threatening political situation is a shadowy force throughout and the moral dilemmas are interesting. Bardem is wonderful

DVD Review: Malkovich being Malkovich
Summary: 5 Stars

Whether he is in front of the screen or behind the screen, John Malkovich is my guy!

DVD Review: Dissapointing
Summary: 2 Stars

I was disappointed by this movie. Although it has Laura Morante and Javier Bardem in it, and their acting is well done, the movie itself lacks so many things it I couldn't wait for it to be over. The film is slow, tedious and somewhat boring. Also, the plot is a bit confused and convoluted. The film fails to draw the viewer in and fails to tie many many things together. Several things are never explained which left me feeling confused and unable to better appreciate this movie. I just didn't like it much.

Description of The Dancer Upstairs

This taut political thriller set in Latin America marks John Malkovich's explosive directorial debut. Academy Award nominee Javier Bardem (Best Actor, 2000 - Before Night Falls) stars as legit policeman Agustin Rejas, who faces the greatest challenge of his career - to catch the leader of a terrorist movement threatening to collapse his government, while being stopped at every turn by his own corrupt superiors. As the fight becomes more ferocious, Rejas' search brings him ever closer to the guerrilla leader. But when, amidst the chaos, he falls in love with his daughter's ballet teacher (Laura Morante), Rejas must choose between his heart, his country, and his own well-being.

Marking an assured directorial debut for actor John Malkovich, The Dancer Upstairs is a tense, nerve-jangling political thriller that values adult storytelling and emotional depth over cheap thrills. It's a challenge for those accustomed to the frantic pace of Hollywood thrillers, but attentive viewers will be richly rewarded by Malkovich's slow-burn approach to the film's terrorist plot, adapted by Nicholas Shakespeare from his own novel, based on the "Shining Path" movement that terrorized Peru in the 1980s. The plot unfolds in an unnamed Latin American capital, where a lawyer-turned-police detective named Rejas (Javier Bardem) leads an investigation to locate Ezequiel, a terrorist whose followers have left a trail of fear, death and destruction across the city. Rejas falls in love with his daughter's ballet teacher (Laura Morante), but the film's ultimate revelation--a coincidence that Malkovich handles with credible delicacy--throws this simmering drama into stark relief, bringing Bardem's character (and his subtle performance) to a greater awareness of his own personal and political humanity. --Jeff Shannon

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