The Dancer Upstairs (2002)

Director:

John Malkovich

Writers:

Nicholas Shakespeare (novel)
Nicholas Shakespeare (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 septiembre 2002 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Crime

Frase comercial:

An honest man caught in a world of intrigue, power and passion.

Plot:

A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Terrorism | Animal Abuse | Arrest | Assassination

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Impressive and assured debut

Cast

Javier Bardem	...	Agustín Rejas
Juan Diego Botto	...	Sucre
Laura Morante	...	Yolanda
Elvira Mínguez	...	Llosa
Alexandra Lencastre	...	Sylvina Rejas
Oliver Cotton	...	Merino
Luís Miguel Cintra	...	Calderón
Javier Manrique	...	Clorindo
Abel Folk	...	Ezequiel Durán
Marie-Anne Berganza	...	Laura
Lucas Rodríguez	...	Gómez
Xabier Elorriaga	...	Pascual
Natalia Dicenta	...	Marina
Wolframio Sinué	...	Santiago
Ramiro Jiménez	...	Sergeant Pisac

También conocida como:

Pasos de baile (Spain)
Sendero de sangre (Argentina) (Mexico) (Panama) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, and for language.

Duración:

132 min

País:

Spain | USA

Idioma:

Italian | English | Español | Quechua

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:12 | Peru:14 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Espinho, Aveiro, Portugal

Company:

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Trivialidades:

In the beginning of the film, one of the revolutionaries tells a checkpoint security guard that his dead dog's name is Tupac. Tupac Amaru was the last indigenous leader of the Inca people in Peru and Tupac Amaru II was the leader of the 1780s uprising in colonial day Cusco, Peru. (The late hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur is named after the latter).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The camera that Bardem uses to take Ezekiel's picture at the military checkpoint is a either a Polaroid Model 95 made from 1948 to 1953, or the Model 95B was discontinued in 1958. The picture that Bardem holds is a square format SX70 color shot identified buy its square format and black square on the back. This picture which could not have come from the camera used by Bardem.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Revealing 'The Dancer Upstairs' (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Dancelight

Impressive and assured debut

Acclaimed actor John Malkovich has made his directorial debut with an assured political thriller that combines tension and intelligence to make for a gripping two and a quarter hours. The setting is a South American country which is unnamed, but the clear inspiration for the storyline is the early 1990s experience of Peru (which I have recently visited) when the bizarre Abimael Guzman led the murderous Shining Path movement, while the movie was shot in Spain, Portugal and Ecuador.

Javier Bardem plays Augustin Rejas, a former lawyer turned policeman who manages rare dignity and honesty as he battles with the interventions of a regime teetering on the edge of a military dictatorship and the pursuit of a fanatical revolutionary codenamed Ezekiel, while struggling with the varying emotions associated with a vapid wife, an adoring daughter, and his daughter's dance teacher, the eponymous and allurring woman upstairs (Laura Morante as Yolanda). Bardem - who reminds me of an early Raul Julia - gives a languid yet charismatic performance and hopefully we will see much more of this talented actor.

In some respects the work is reminiscent of Costa-Gavras's "State Of Siege", a clip of which is actually used here. However, the movie is based on a novel by the British writer Nicholas Shakespeare, who wrote the screenplay which features some conversation in Quechua (a native language of Peru and Bolivia), and this is a more personal examination of terrorism than the 1973 movie.