For this week’s selection, the last of this year, we’ve picked three films containing some of the most sublime dance scenes in film history. This has a number of reasons. This month we celebrated the 90th birthday of one of the greatest living filmmakers, Jean-Luc Godard, who had a patent on fabulous dance intermezzos (Vivre sa vie, Bande à part, Pierrot le fou, Une femme est une femme…). Around the world, dancing has been forbidden since the beginning of the year and “dance hunger” has become a reported phenomenon. Thus, as we’re now facing a New Year’s Eve with a ban on dancing, we hope you can find some solace in this selection. And we hope it can equally count as a celebration of the 125th anniversary of cinema as we commemorate the Lumière brothers’ first commercial film screening on December 28, 1895. However, the most important instigation for this selection is Lovers Rock (2020), the much-discussed and praised second episode of Steve McQueen’s series Small Axe (2020), of which the fifth and last part is broadcasted on BBC and Amazon Prime this week. An ode to the reggae genre of the title, Lovers Rock takes place over one night in 1980s West London at a house party thrown by members of the Caribbean community not welcome in white clubs.
How to compile only three singular moments of dance in film from so many to choose from? One could go for the crutch solo to Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity” in R.W. Fassbinder’s Chinesisches Roulette (1976), or Pascale Ogier’s idiosyncratic moves in Eric Rohmer’s Les nuits de la pleine lune (1984). The bar dance to Gino Lorenzi’s "L'amore perdonera" in Tout une nuit (Chantal Akerman, 1982) and Jacques Rivette’s Haut Bas Fragile (1995) with its courtship dances by Nathalie Richard (including the welder in the background) and Marianne Denicourt (on the balcony towards the end) would have made the cut, if only they could be streamed somewhere.
35 rhums (Claire Denis, 2008)
We stayed closer to Lovers Rock. As the critic Adrian Martin remarked, the “entire ‘Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge’ French TV-movie series of the mid 90s seems to have been reborn in that film.” Claire Denis’s contribution to that project, US Go Home (1994), is the clearest blueprint for McQueen’s film. Already from the nighttime opening shots of the trains, Lovers Rock similarly resonates with Denis’s 35 rhums (2008), mainly Mati Diop and Grégoire Colin’s softly swaying to “Nightshift” by The Commodores which is unsurpassed in its tenderness and proves the right track can change everything. You can rent the film on UniversCiné/Sooner, CineMember, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy, Fandor or Amazon Prime.
Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1977)
Set in the African-American community of Los Angeles' Watts district, Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep (1977) features another prime example of bodies that tell the story. A shirtless husband and his wife in floral dress share a slow dance in their living room as a record player spins “This Bitter Earth” by Dinah Washington. The couple dances to the entirety of the song and continues a while in silence. Envisioned by Burnett as a history of African-American music, the film renders this intimate moment in a single take. You can rent the film on UniversCiné/Sooner and on Milestone Films.
The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
Steve McQueen talked about the transformative fairytale aspect of Lovers Rock. In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s London-set fairy tale, The Red Shoes (1948), a young girl is pushed and pulled between love and dance. Already from the opening scenes when the protagonist sneaks out to the party, Lovers Rock gives a lot of attention to her white heels – “You can't wear church shoes to blues dance!” Whereas The Red Shoes has the famous 17-minute ballet sequence as its centerpiece, Lovers Rock includes a rapturous 10-minute rendition of Janet Kay's “Silly Games”, part of it a cappella by the entire room. You can rent The Red Shoes on iTunes, Google Play, The Criterion Channel, HBO Max and Amazon Prime.
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