Mad Hot Ballroom (USA) (Paramount) (2005) ****1/2Year: 2005iMDB
Director: Marilyn Agrelo Cast: Madeleine Hackney, Rodney Lopez, Victoria Malvagano, Alex Tchassov
A documentary about fifth grade kids, from schools around New York City, participating in a ballroom dance competition is bound to be touching. Like in Spellbound we see the children passioned about becoming better and better and succeeding in the competition, crying heartbroken when they fail. Unlike Spellbound though, we see less of the parents pushing their kids to perform in order for them to be able to take the pride (although we see some of that in one of the dance teachers) and more of the children discovering something that is totally new for them and totally uncharacteristic for their environment, but something that they grow to like and appreciate.
Mad Hot Ballroom was close to being a perfect documentary for me (admittedly, I am biased when it comes to dancing) but it loses some of its fluidity at the end when it becomes obvious that the final competition filmed is different than the teams that were followed throughout the rest of the movie. Furthermore, the winning school is actually so good that they are basically in a separate league compared to the rest of the schools. However, the movie does a great job of focusing on the early journey of the kids, on their thoughts about dancing and about life, rather than on a single team becoming perfect.
Warmly recommended.
Posted by TheCasualCritic on July 6, 2005 10:39 AM | TrackBackThe most fabulous documentary I have ever seen, and I've seen my share. (and worked on a few.)
Posted by: zenchick at July 6, 2005 03:37 PM