Ballets Russes
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Movie Reviews of Ballets Russes
Movie Review: This DVD does a Gran Jete
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't generally take much interest in ballet, but I still found this DVD to be absorbing. A "jete" is a leap with one foot extended forward, and one foot extended back. And that's just the sort of spanning arc this movie makes. It starts with the formal founding of the Ballet Russe in Monte Carlo in the 1930's, goes through the period when two competing versions of the Ballet Russe existed (thus the plural of this documentary's title), and catches up with the current lives of a number of the Ballet's early dancers.
Some vintage footage of these early dancers is included, some of it even in color. But the fascination here is the dancers themselves, even more than the dance. We see them as young Russian émigrés, just children, recruited by Diaghilev in the 30's. Then we see them being interviewed in 2000-2003 for this documentary and we are given a sense of the texture of a lifetime devoted to the art of dance.
The DVD is very generous with its captioning. Everyone is labeled in each dance sequence, and then re-captioned for every current interview, so you can easily keep track of who's who, before-and-after.
It's all a very good advertisement for the practice of ballet and might inspire you to take lessons yourself, because you will see how a majority of the early Ballet Russe dancers are still around in good health, and are still active in ballet, mostly as teachers. One of the dancers was actually still performing "character" roles on stage at the time of the interviews.
However, one gets a sense that starring ballet dancers of the 30's and 40's might have been subject to fewer grueling demands than modern dancers. Back then, dancers were perhaps expected to be human perfections of grace, but not superhuman specimens. So there is no discussion here of crippling injuries, of arthritis in the wake of years of command contortion, of struggles to keep reed-thin, of any of the health problems that are whispered about among modern dancers. That's the only major flaw I found in this documentary. These dancers might have been in a unique position to compare training and practice regimens then-and-now, and to give any necessary critiques of modern expectation. But you won't find any such discussion on this DVD.
However the DVD extras do include a lot of behind-the-scenes gossip and do let us get better acquainted with all the featured players. One of the most memorable is Nathalie Krassovska, who unblinkingly, with a dreamy dramatization of each sentence, focuses off beyond the floodlights - still playing to the balconies.
Movie Review: Singularly important documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
Of course I and every dancer and afficionado am grateful to Geller and Goldfine for this documentary, a resource of unique film footage as well as just-in-time interviews with some of the most important dancers of the early 20th century. But it is the very uniqueness and importance of the material that I wonder if Geller and Goldfine fully appreciate.
I heard Geller and Goldfine interviewed on the radio in 2005 and they spoke excitedly of great quantities of archival footage and interview material they had to leave out of the film for theatrical release, but which they looked forward to putting on the dvd. Well, on the dvd there is a "bonus" section of snippets of interviews with Franklin and 4 others for a total of 10 extra minutes. Those 10 minutes are interesting and valuable but far short of what Geller and Goldfine were talking about in the interview. Perhaps problems arose with the plan to incorporate the extra material into the dvd.
A small problem, but telling: in the archival footage of the different ballets the music has been dubbed in, and it is almost always the wrong music for the ballet (sometimes it's not even the correct composer). Why bother dubbing in music at all if it's the wrong music? This suggests the film makers don't think it matters. For people who know better the wrong music distracts from the experience of seeing such rare footage.
The film centers around a reunion of the elderly surviving members of the 3 Ballets Russes companies. Personally I found the scenes of this big, cheerful, relaxed, often clownish reunion boring, and finally, as the scenes go on, a bit grating. I realize that like most dancers I come to this film deeply aware of the immense professional and artistic stature of the people in it. I don't begrudge these extraordinary artists their fun at all, but the scenes of the reunion are anything but extraordinary, and in their place I'd much rather have seen more of that historical footage Geller and Goldfine said they didn't have room for.
In the end I can only be grateful to Geller and Goldfine for this documentary, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they don't really quite realize the artistic stature of the people they filmed, nor do they quite understand the art those people gave their lives to.
Movie Review: A Golden Age
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this company first in 1947, and followed them for about ten years. They were my introduction to ballet, and the dancers I remember were Alexandra Danilova, Natalie Krassovska, Frederic Franklin, and Nicolas Magellanes. Others came -- Ruthanna Boris, Mia Slavenska, Nina Novak -- but my memory of ballet is full of these early performances and those early dancers. It is inspiring to see them in this film, as full of love for their art as they were when performing.
There is one area where I disagre slightly. I remember Nina Novak in the chorus, and she had charisma. You watched her. When she was given more important roles, you continued to watch her. What she did in her private life was irrelevant; she drew the eye.
This is a must-see for every lover of ballet who is curious about how it started in America, and became the center of interest that it holds today.
Baronova is astonishing!
Movie Review: Ballet Russes ? - not exactly !!
Summary: 4 Stars
OK so l was excited to read the blurb on the back of the dvd cover - here was footage of the Ballet Russes - Diaghilev, Nijinsky, Fokine etc - wll yes there were about 3 still photos of them in the first 2 minutes of the film but then we went immediately to the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo - and this is what the film should have been called - of course there is much more footage of the later ballet company and even a few still alive - and what we see is wonderful indeed - but it is not what was advertised and l was very disappointed that the real Ballet Russes seemed to be just a way to introduce the offshoot company - as wonderful and talented as they were.Movie Review: enjoyable documentary even for the uninterested
Summary: 4 Stars
"you don't need to know an arabesque from an alligator handbag to enjoy this," wrote one reviewer, and indeed, i didn't (and still don't), and i did. archival footage, great editing, and clean interviewing style keep this documentary of ballet groups from the 1920's to 1970's actually, unbelievably, pretty interesting. the movie does drag a little at the 3/4 point, but not unbearably. the interviews with largely fat old russians who were once lithe masters of ballet are humorous and touching.