Have you ever been in the position where a friend had done something creative and was looking forward to some feedback - a good review – and you found absolutely nothing good about it. It was so terrible you couldn't stand to look at it anymore? Yep, I think we all have. So it is with great relief to find Tom Young's 'The Dancer' falls nowhere near the aforementioned categories. Thank the gods that be, indeed. Tom is a friend.
I had read the script a few years ago and liked the story. The film mirrors the story in a nice, tight way. There's some fluff in the film, but it is necessary fluff. Elsewise, the film would be void of a critical key element – character development. At some point, it becomes important for us, as an audience, to care about certain characters. I can't give too much of the film away (it's still kicking around the indie festival circuit), but I can tell you the end twist is a motherf****r. The presence of Lar Park Lincoln (Knots Landing, House II, Friday 13 p7, etc.) is refreshing in a double-edge kind of way and the lead actress, Denise Williamson, has a certain frailty/vulnerability that is sometimes difficult to pull off on the big screen. She does a wonderful job with the role.
About Tom - I gotta give this guy credit for his behind the camera efforts as well as his on-screen presence. I watched the film twice and had to remind myself he wrote and co-directed this thing ..and that certainly puts him in the auteurist arena. He had the sac to write an original story, gather the necessary forces to make it happen and then pull it off with an assured amount of grace and tact. Very few things pulled me out of the film, but hey – it's the guy's first time driving a beast like this and those little things are easily forgiven.
All-in-all, the Dancer is a good little film. A worthy adventure in storytelling and recommended.
