Francie Huber, Lisa Viola and Patrick Corbin in "Dancemaker."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, we give this film a: Stars: Paul Taylor Director: Matthew Diamond Rated: Unrated Length: 98 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Mike Clark
Gannett News Service

(May 21, 1999) -- Other than maybe those folkloric stories of Fred and Ginger on the soundstages doing take No. 30 in bloody shoes, it's hard to imagine a more vivid picture of the exhaustion, dedication and body-psyche bruises that are the dancer's plight than Matthew Diamond's Dancemaker.

As much a portrait of his dance company as of the extraordinary choreographer Paul Taylor, this Oscar-nominated documentary instantly grabs us with its opening shot of dancers writhing artfully on stage, their heavy breathing and the floor squeaking under the movement audible to us but eluding their audience.

Dance rehearsal scenes are shot in black-and-white, which reflects this primitive stage in the creative process. The movements are beautiful, but this is sweaty grunt work, as reflected by the oblivious screeching brakes and honking horns just outside the New York studio windows.

Raised in a Virginia farmland foster home and still referring to himself as "a hick," the cigarette-smoking Taylor is an unusually graceful large man and part of what one interviewee calls "Martha Graham's dysfunctional family." The movie shows that he can pour on the charm when he wants to (both privately and socially with funders) but that he's also somewhat of an aloof enigma.

When he decides a dancer has to be fired, he does it quickly and without fanfare.

Unions are a problem, AIDS has been a devastating scourge and the internationally revered company gets more financial aid from other countries than it does in the United States (where New York engagements are too expensive to be profitable, no matter how well attended). Through it all, the company's business manager struggles to keep Taylor's mind unclogged enough to choreograph -- though the artist himself claims that the energy for his creativity is fueled by pure fear.

The movie climaxes on a high note with scenes from Taylor's Piazzolla Caldera, and its colorful tangos are not merely recorded on camera but shot, edited and further vitalized with a deft variety of camera angles.

With so much piffle passing for screen entertainment (especially this time of year), it's heartening to be handed a reminder that few movie subjects are more exhilarating to watch than talented people in specialized professions as they spend a day or a year at work.