Number Rolled: 15
Movie Name/Year: The
Dancer and the Thief (2009)
Tagline: None
Genre: Drama
Length: 122
minutes
Rating: NR
Production Companies:
Fernando Trueba Porducciones Cinematograficas
Producer: Jessica
Huppert Berman, Cristina Huete, Andres Mardones
Director: Fernando
Trueba
Writer: Antonio
Skarmeta, Fernando Trueba, Jonas Trueba
Actors: Ricardo
Darin, Abel Ayala, Miranda Bodenhofer, Ariadna Gil, Julio Jung, Mario Guerra,
Marcia Haydee, Luis Dubo, Luis Gnecco, Mariana Loyola, Gloria Munchmeyer,
Gregory Cohen, Catalina Guerra, Catalina Saavedra, Sergio Hernandez, Ernesto
Melbran, Samantha Sanchez, Oscar Zimmerman, Antonio Skarmata
Stunt Doubles: None
Languages
Speech Available:
Spanish
Subtitles Available:
English, Spanish
Blurb from Netflix:
When he’s released from prison under Chile’s new general amnesty program,
safecracker Vergara Grey plans to live a quiet life with his family -- until he
gets caught up in the schemes of fellow con, Angel Santiago.
Selina’s Point of View:
Love. Love. LOVE this movie.
I imagine the first thing you probably noticed is that this
film’s runtime is about equal to the life span of a household pet. I’m always
weary when watching films that are that long.
When you have a short film, it’s alright if it sucks. Especially
if you’re watching it at home and didn’t have to cut off your arm to go see it
in theaters. When a film is eighty, maybe ninety, minutes it doesn’t seem like
that big of a risk. You’re still in double digits and if it sucks, you blew
about an hour of your life (because, let’s face it, at least 10 minutes of the
ending is probably dedicated to credits). You start going into the zone of two
hours or more and you go into watching it by threatening the movie: “I swear to
god if I waste my time watching this shit…”
Unless you have a razor sharp attention span. In which case,
I’m jealous and I kind of hate you.
The Dancer and the
Thief went into the two hour mark, and the credits are very short. I went
into it with my normal threat to the inanimate creation, but it didn’t matter.
I got hooked very quickly and I stayed hooked.
There was a deeply intricate story line to this film and the
majority of the actors portrayed it perfectly.
Miranda Bodenhofer (XXIV
Premios Anuales de la Academia, De par en par, Cinema 3) was breathtaking.
I believed every single minute of her performance. In fact, I believed it so
much that I got legitimately pissed off whenever she got hurt. Like someone was
smacking a friend of mine in the face. Abel Ayala (El marginal, Sos mi hombre, Gladiators from Pompey) reminded me a bit
of Lillo Brancato (Vamp Bikers Tres,
Searching for Bobby D, Renaissance Man) from A Bronx Tale (1993) – which is definitely a compliment.
Finally, there was Ricardo Darin (XXY, The Aura, Lovely Loneliness) who managed to make me truly care
about his character.
This is kind of a dance genre movie, but it’s not like any
dance movie I’ve ever seen before. It’s got a bit of heist, a bit of thriller,
a bit of drama, and a bit of politics. If this is a recipe for an entire group
of films, then I’ve never seen anything from that group.
Not only was the writing, directing, and acting very near flawless
– but it had that kind of ending that I love. It’s an ending that keeps the
film fresh in your mind for weeks after you’ve seen it. If you watch it with
friends, you wind up debating about it. If you watch it alone, you wind up
theorizing.
Phenomenal film. I highly recommend it. I didn’t even
remember I was reading subtitles.
Cat’s Point of View:
This movie came from somewhere out of left field and stole
my heart while I wasn’t looking.
It was a perfect storm of good casting and compelling story.
I feel compelled to research the symbolism of the Andean Condor – but for why,
you’ll need to watch this movie for yourself.
But seriously; I was so engrossed in the movie that I can’t
really even think of a remotely negative thing to say about it. It was a little
on the long side, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It made for plenty of room to
develop the characters and the story arc in a way that was relatable. If I
wanted to hurry it along a bit in some places it was only so I could figure out
what happened next.
Ricardo Darín (The
Secret in Their Eyes, 7th Floor, Black Snow) as the character Vergara Grey
gave a very nuanced and understated performance. I loved that he was almost in
a role of the ‘straight man’ to the bounding antics of Abel Ayala’s (Scream in the Night, The Mudboy, Permitidos)
character of Angel Santiago. He breathed such life and enthusiasm into his
character with seemingly endless energy. I’m reminded of old Saturday morning
cartoons where an older dog is walking along and a young pup is just bouncing
around him gabbing a million miles a minute in hero worship. They pulled off
that dynamic without taking it in an annoying direction.
Then we come to Miranda Bodenhofer (De par en par, Cinema 3, Artaud, le Suréel y los Tarahumaras). She
was an absolute dream in her role. I believe the story of her casting is
something along the lines of discovery by the director as he was location
scouting. He remembered seeing her dance when it came time to audition the
part. She was so expressive in this challenging, mostly nonverbal role. I could
have watched her dance in her own show for at least as long as this movie was.
You might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned the subtitles
yet. It is my favorite thing to comment on for our Foreign Film Friday movies,
after all. I saved it for last because, honestly, aside from the fact that the
text was in a contrasting yellow so it was well seen, I didn’t care. I was so
into the movie that I entered that zone where I was experiencing the film more
than actively reading so it just didn’t register beyond my initial response at
the very beginning.
I would most certainly watch this movie again – especially
in hopes of figuring out any clues that might clarify the ending for me – and
this is definitely something I would highly recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 59%
Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 3/5
Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 5/5
Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 3.5/5
Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score
– 4.5/5
Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating: R
Movie Trailer:
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