I hate sounding like a groupie but From the Top is always so full of teenage talent I think there should be some musical Mahlerian term for Stendhal Syndrome. (Well- there sort of is, you just need to really read the score to find it- strange as it may seem not so many do.)
Always a control freak;) thought a mention might help and be an intro to a film that's gnawing not just at my ankles and won't get a wide international release.
Dance Academy, a spin off from a popular Australian TV series I have never seen. What struck me was when cliche imbued with total truth arrives back at the truth of the cliche rather than ever morphing. Perhaps you need to be a dancer/musician/performer to relate to this movie. Perhaps simply any artisan who loses a bodily or mental expertise 'cause of some fff freak event beyond their control and diligence.
If this film had been an American Indie with some 'names' or SOME names Mr Jenn Lawrence:) ! surely it would have done Tribeca or Sundance Fests. Would/does it deserve more than that? It's not Scorsese nor was meant to be yet any of these actors could have a career in Hollywood. G forfiddy! Talk to Geoffrey Rush. HE will tell you!
Watching Ice Castles again (both orig and re-make) and thought- American talent needs something to believe in again. Beyond all the hype, publicity, 'bs', squalor of media representation. Beyond social media.
Dance Academy is saddled with its TV title. But it never falls at a cliche hurdle, very surprisingly- guess thanks to its director, writer, and above all its actors. A film so full of truth it is unbelievable.
My Shadow
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.
He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 - 1894
Disclaimer: I saw/listened E.K. at the Cafe Carlyle (NY)- is there another?- many moons ago. As fresh. As young. as....Wish I'd had a script, a song, anything-a lion, a tiger to support? ......a squid.....you'd be surprised at the underworld....
One-ly ....
