The Dancer Upstairs (2002)

Awards

Won 1 award & 2 nominations
See awards details »

Users' rating: 6.8

132 votes

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About the movie

Year

2002

Runtime

2 h 12 min

Genres

Drama, Thriller, Crime

Countries

Spain, United States

Director

John Malkovich

Writers

Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicholas Shakespeare

Plotline

A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.

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Starring

Javier Bardem

Juan Diego Botto

Laura Morante

Elvira Mínguez

Alexandra Lencastre

Main cast

Javier Bardem Agustín Rejas

Juan Diego Botto Sucre

Laura Morante Yolanda

Elvira Mínguez Llosa

Alexandra Lencastre Sylvina Rejas

Oliver Cotton Merino

Luís Miguel Cintra Calderón

Javier Manrique Clorindo

Abel Folk Duran

Marie-Anne Berganza Laura

Lucas Rodríguez Gomez

Xabier Elorriaga Pascual

Natalia Dicenta Marina

Wolframio Sinué Santiago

Ramiro Jiménez Sergeant Pisac

Montserrat Astudillo Woman in Pick-up - Edith Pusanga

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External critics' reviews

Patient and plodding -- but as realized by John Malkovich, in his directorial debut, utterly absorbing. more

A story of obsession and honor, deception and self-deception set against a sharply etched landscape of political upheaval and intrigue. Malkovich orchestrates all this with assuredness, and Bardem, looking weary and worn, inhabits his character with a realness, a truth, that's downright spooky. And beautiful. more

The movie has a mystery, and moral unease, that lingers. more

The movie does an admirable job of juggling political, dramatic and comic elements. more

The Dancer Upstairs, is a haunting and often beautiful work, part doomed romance and part political thriller, that demonstrates the adult command of the medium Malkovich has always demonstrated as an actor. more

If the screenwriter and director had followed their cinematic instincts fully, they would have collaborated on one of the more satisfying political thrillers in years; instead, they've managed to create three-quarters of one. more

Echoes its director's own deportment as a performer, alternating silky smoothness with burlap coarseness. Though Mr. Malkovich stays entirely behind the scenes, he creates a languorous but gripping story of people fighting to stay a step ahead of hopelessness. more

The film has a foggy cast to it--flat and insinuatingly creepy, like the actor. But then it can be lit, in an instant, by searing flash-pots of cruelty and wit. Even when it's slightly opaque, it's transfixing. more

The film is powered by a superbly controlled performance from Javier Bardem. While it lacks economy and could have used a firmer hand in shaping the key central relationship, this intelligent, arrestingly sober drama packs a cumulative punch. more

Malkovich weaves something delicate and devastating. more

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