Tags: blog, film, drama, musical, 2024
Author: KickingK
Date: Tuesday May 28th, 2024
Paul Mescal is wonderful but he’s not an American.
A modern interpretation of the opera by Georges Bizet, this knows what it’s not interested in. It’s not interested in the story, it’s barely interested in the characters. It is however, very interested in the music and the dance. It focuses on tone and feeling, instead of nuts’n’bolts story telling.
The choreography is superb, always down to earth, never showy. It feels like the characters are expressing themselves through the dance, rather than the script. I felt emotionally connected to the dance in a way that I don’t when watching most Hollywood dance routines.
It helps that Nicholas Britell is on his best form, producing a score that is simply gorgeous.
Unfortunately, the film isn’t quite daring enough to overcome the slightness of the story. When the music fades and the dancing stops, the story loses momentum and the fire in the heart cools.
But when they are dancing, it burns very bright indeed.