THEY GOTTA DANCE, YOU GOTTA WATCH.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic A PAPER-THIN crowd-pleaser about a bunch of 11-year-old New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school who gotta dance, dance, dance, ``Mad Hot Ballroom'' gets a passing grade based on the precocious charms of its pint-size subjects and filmmakers' palpable enthusiasm for their subjects. Choosing to inspire rather than illuminate, director Marilyn Agrelo and writer Amy Sewell (who co-produced as well) lean heavily on aw-shucks moments and a structure that will be familiar to sports-movie junkies. We see the kids dance and hear them talk disarmingly (and hilariously) about the opposite sex (the hormones are about to kick in), but find out little about their day-to-day lives. When the principal of a Washington Heights school talks about how dancing turned a boy's life
Boy's Life (1991) is a 580-page novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert R. McCammon. around, the comment barely registers because we never got to know him. The movie's superficiality isn't a fatal flaw, though, because the dancing is so much fun to watch and real life provided a Hollywood ending that can't help but bring a smile to your face. The proceedings are also yet another reminder that participation in the arts can lift a kid's spirits and alter lives seemingly destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. for disaster. It's a lesson as old as time, but one that seems to often elude those controlling the purse strings purse strings or purse·strings pl.n. Financial support or resources, or control over them: the politicians who control federal purse strings; tightened the corporate purse strings. around funding time. The filmmakers concentrate on three New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. schools participating in the American Ballroom Theater's classroom program. For 10 weeks, these fifth-graders and others at an additional 60 schools learn the merengue merengue Couple dance from the Dominican Republic or Haiti, danced throughout Latin America. Originally a folk dance, it has become a ballroom dance, where it is danced with a limping step, the weight always on the same foot. Varieties include the jaleo and juangomero. , the rumba, the tango, the fox trot fox trot n. 1. a. A ballroom dance in 4/4 time, encompassing a variety of slow and fast steps. b. The music for this dance. 2. A slow broken gait of a horse, between a trot and a walk. and swing dancing. At the end of the program, there is a city-wide competition with the winning school taking a trophy that's taller than most of the participants. The movie's schools are in Tribeca, Brooklyn and Washington Heights. The differences between the kids - and the neighborhoods, on the rare occasions we glimpse them - are striking. The Tribeca children are smart, sophisticated and come from mostly affluent backgrounds. They want to win. The Brooklyn kids, meanwhile, seem to be in it simply for the fun, an attitude fostered by the school's good-natured principal, who says, ``It's more than learning steps. It's etiquette. It's life.'' Over in Washington Heights, a Dominican neighborhood where most of the families live below the poverty line, teacher Yomaira Reynoso pushes the students to reach beyond their limited resources. The motives behind her passion are pure: Reynoso believes a win would viably change her young charges' lives. You can't help but root for her kids and, by extension, ``Mad Hot Ballroom,'' too. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com MAD HOT BALLROOM - Three stars (PG: mild references to sexuality and violence) Director: Marilyn Agrelo Running time: 1 hr. 45 min. Playing: Laemmle's Monica in Santa Monica; Landmark's Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles
In a nutshell: Cute kids cut a rug, aiming for the top prize in a New York City school dance competition. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: ``Mad Hot Ballroom'' chronicles how schoolchildren from different New York neighborhoods prepare for a dance competition. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion