Well, this came up in another thread, about what indies I was anticipating, and well, my rt is down so half the ones I ended up naming are apparently at the 30% rotten mark. Yikes. Luckily for me, this one's too long away of a release dates to have reviews yet (I think)! \:D/

CANNOT WAIT TO SEE MAD HOT BALLROOM!




This is going to be Spellbound and Strictly Ballroom mixed into one. I can't wait to see eleven year olds hyperventilating in joy for getting winning marks in the rumba the way *spoilers* Nupur freaked out at the end of Spellbound! *end spoilers*







Seriously, I think watching those kiddies try to spell darjeeling had more intensity than any action/suspense movie in years. Since I'm such a sucker for dancing in movies I think this is going to be a bit lighter. The thing is, its just not as pressureful to watch kids dance as to watch Ashley almost get ill in the first round. Simply put, the camera and all the focus of attention is different, and last I checked ballroom dancing didn't attract quite as wide a cross-section of America as the Spelling Bee does. I think the questions around spelling, language, and cultural assimilation are also probably a bit more profound than dancing, but who knows, maybe Ballroom will surprise me. If not, at least I probably get to see better dancing out of pre-teens than i could do myself (which isn't saying much, but whatever).

Times ran a huge article on the kids today!





Maybe I will try and catch this one at Tribeca too? Looks so cuuuuuute!

Ballroom dancing foreign film? Sign me up!

But seriously, I have never seen a movie that I wanted to see less than this.

New York is foreign?

Heh, you have to have an aquired taste for movies on little kids I guess. I really liked SPellbound which is why I'm so psyched for this one. They're basically just really open and though it may be a myth, I have a feeling when they're being interviewed they hide less. See them in competitions, etc, I you also see their emotions on their sleeves. They're the most unsubtle movies ever. So it depends on if the director is any good at building up their personal stories and some suspense around the competitions. Spellbound was so great, it was one of my favorite movies that year. I don't expect this to be quite as good though.

Spelling bee's are particularly unique as far as youth competitions. At one point in the movie, they ruminated about the importance of spelling amongst immigrants who wanted to assimilate, and why the spelling bee became a sort of benchmark of the American dream. Ballroom dancing isn't like that at all. It doesn't have a history here the way spelling does, so I don't expect Mad Hot Ballroom to be quite so introspective of the youth competition culture. On the other hand, the article mentions how P.S. (public school) 115 is in a very Puerto Rican neighborhood, and that dancing is a big part of that culture, so maybe the documentary can still be smart about exploring that point?

Here you go, now you can post a few more times without them all having been in a row.

And yes NY is foreign.

Heh. Dolce, this looks like your obvious choice for #1 of the year if the Spellbound/Strictly Ballroom comments are true.

The trailer was pretty cute. Saw it in the Enron movie.

I thought when they're teacher started balling and telling them it was all gonna be ok, that was hilarious.

I've only seen the trailer too, but Strictly Ballroom + Spellbound = I am so there!

Well, I just came back from watching it. Its actually really decent, but I wouldn't put it on the level of some other documentaries, namely Hoop Dreams and Spell Bound, dealing with youth as a springboard to explore larger issues.

Mad Hot Ballroom is pretty straight forward, and relies heavily on the fact kids wear their emotions on their sleeves. One can't help be drawn to their energy, their dissappointment, and their success. The Citywide Ballroom finals include a ten week training programme, so first and foremost this movie does not track children over years of work. Just a few weeks, It doesn't build that strong a narrative or that much suspense around dancing, as dancing itself is hard for a viewer (who doesn't dance) to really pick out the nuances of. The movie focuses almost entirely on the children and their instructors. Most kids do not stand out much further than being "cute."

A few do however, including to kids from P.S. 115 that almost failed out of school and had disciplinary problems, and one kids from the same school who had problems with his pears because he didn't speak english.

The documentary follows children as they learn to open up and support eachother, but also gain a sense of self entering the competition. The competition itself is quite fun to watch, and always surprsing to see ten year olds dancing better than I do.

By the finals, some of them have started really developing a flair and unique personalities which stand out as the true moments of strength. A little extra hand gesture their teachers never taught them, and big smile, a "sexy" look, which are always refreshing and entertaining.

The audiance clapped along and cheered at the end, something I found surprising since it was predicatble, but the raw energy and exuberance of the children carries the film through its technical insufficencies.

A great and touching watch, also had me dancing in my chair a bit. I would definately recommend it as a solid exploration of ten weeks in the school children's lives. Very enjoyable and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster since the kids themselves experience the highs and lows of the dancing competition very honestly and openly. You won't walk away with some profoundly new insight into youth or the American landscape though.

B

I can't wait to see it. It's of course playing in Chicago.

Did you see the trailer before Enron? I think you'll like it. Its not the most well done doc technically, but the kids are great. There's something really raw about watching them because while they perform for the camera, they don't really have as much layers of hesitation and manipulation around it. They'll look straight at it, say what they want to say. Also, they are completely oblivious of it when they get really into the dancing or competition. They just get really emotional 24/7 so it kind of feeds the audiance. Its a natural story to watch and be engaged by. They're pretty freaking good at dancing too.

It's not Spellbound though. Did you see Spellbound? If not, tivo it asap and check it out! I'd put it up with Hoop Dreams, Thin Blue Line, Roger&Me, Harlan County USA, 4 Little Girls, Cane Toads, and Fog of War as the best documentaries of all time.

I've seen a trailer for it but I don't remember where. I saw the Enron doc on HDNET and they didnt have any trailers before it.

I LOVE Spellbound, it has so much heart. I just watched Hoop Dreams again last night. And though I think Hoop Dreams is one of the top docs I've ever seen, Steve James the director released another doc a few years ago called Stevie which is in my opinion a much better film.

Hoop Dreams, after all, is a lot like Apted's 7-UP series, only on a smaller scale

Yeah, I've only seen 28Up and 35Up, by the time it hit 42, there was like no one left. Apted also did Incident at Oglala, which was very informative and a bit Thin Blue Line-ish (in fact very Thin Blue Line-ish...Redford even admitted he was doing the movie to get Peltier out of Jail).

I think Hoop Dreams is better than all of them, most likely the focus and the years of tracking. Almost works better with less kids, and a more poignant exploration of sports as a dream and motivator, but also its draw backs. The 7Up series seems less controlled. Which is ok, but its like lab rats. Let them run and just see what happens. It looses focus with each new installment (along with members).

Glad you loved Spellbound. You'll see why i set up similarities, but that ultimately Spellbound is technically a stronger film. These kids are not like some of the ones there. They're all still urban, New York, public school kids, so while it shows alot of diversity, you're not getting as wide a cross section. There's also no exploration about the history of ballroom dancing, in compared to the Spelling Bee.

I found some of the discussion around immigrant assimilation and proper spelling to be a bit more interesting than anything here. And why the Spelling Bee still exists. But all in all, Mad Hot Ballroom is still just a great and rewarding watch.

Spellbound is one of the best films...ever.

I've actually made a couple people watch it. Everyone complains about watching a documentary initially, but by the end they're feeling more than they did in Finding Neverland.

Hoop Dreams is pretty good, too.

I took a class last week on documentary film-making... Hope to see MHB soon.. American dance is not well documented.. When was the last good Twist movie???

Idea-- Christopher Guest/ "Squaredance"...

Currently I am preparing a script about a boy who moves from the suburbs of Chicago into a rural town that has outlawed dancing.

He liberates the farm-kids with the fresh sounds of Heavy D and the Boyz and C+C Music Factory.

Oh, I'm glad I saw your post.

I've been curious about the 7 Up series for a while now (and was about to post a thread on it).

I've heard good things.

An impressive box office run so far. It's getting 10 more theaters this weekend, and the PTA has held steady. Its PTA yesterday is better than the one it had two weeks ago, even though it added 66 theaters since then. This one is going to have some legs.

I'm planning on seeing Mad Hot Ballroom soon.

The 7-Up series is interesting.

Possibly might see this. Saw a trailer for it tonight, and it comes to my local second run theater on the 22nd. They seem to get all kinds of indies there. I remember seeing Motorcycle Diaries there before, and Rize and Layer Cake are there now. Not interested enough in potential Bond, Daniel Craig, to pay to see Layer Cake.