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| Anne Marsen |
Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified.
THIS WEEK:
Girl Walk: All Day (2011)
- Alternative To -
Step Up All In (2014)
Say what you will, but has there been a genre that is more contrived of story beats in mainstream film than that of a dance film? Yes, it takes a special skill to bust moves and contort your body into countless shapes. However, how often can the dancers actually act and how exactly do you mix an elaborate choreography in with a progressing story. I am not talking about musicals, which are their own brand of plot-song-plot. I am talking movies with the specific purpose of watching people do insane dance moves and making it fit into the story? Yes, there are such things as films based around dance crews and battles, but honestly, what all is there to them that makes Stomp the Yard or You've Got Served any good from a narrative standpoint?
One of the strangest success stories is that Step Up is now five films deep with All In being the most recent one. Unlike the Bring It On franchise, everything has gotten theatrical release and at least has the honor of getting Channing Tatum a career. With that said, where exactly can the story fit in without it just turning into a dance number to the song of the moment? There's a lot of ponderous questions to ask and in the end, to take a dance film too seriously is a waste of everyone's time. Go for the technique and hopefully it won't get bogged down too far in story.
So the question is then: Why have ANY story? It never makes sense. This week, I introduce to you a great alternative that manages to hit all of the same quadrants. It is a film about dancing set to a mixture of modern music and features great choreography. Yes, there aren't as many stylized moments nor is the budget high enough to get interesting camera angles, but what Girl Walk: All Day offers is an unfiltered adrenaline rush of movement, thought, and insight into the modern world. Yes, there's dancing. A LOT of it. In fact, that's the whole point of the film. No need for more plot.
To summarize, the story follows three characters named The Girl (Anne Marsen), The Gentleman (Dai Omiya), and The Creep (John Doyle) as they run around New York. The film is done exclusively in a guerrilla style that forces the world to be their audience and the reactions to be natural. Maybe there isn't much actual dialog in the film, but at least it has movement. The dancers emote very effectively and with Jacob Krupnick's surprisingly stylized camera techniques, things remain interesting, even as the film dips and dives through some rocky areas. Nonetheless, the flaws are fascinating unto themselves and only help to make this feel like a fully realized production.
The one catch is that unlike any Step Up film, it has one specific soundtrack. For those familiar, it is by mash-up artist Girl Talk from the album "All Day," which itself is a behemoth of sampling music and compiling it into stream of consciousness and finding new insight in familiar territory. It is a rather interesting listen that will take you on a journey, provided that contemporary music is something you are into and have no qualms with sampling. However, this diverse soundtrack makes for a great diverse portrait of a city, its characters, and even your emotional state. It clocks in at under 80 minutes, but its energy will stick with you in unexpected ways.
The biggest benefit? It is free to watch online right now. Consider checking it out and discovering what dancing films could be like. There is a plot, but not too much. It is all about conveying and leaving an impression more than trying to string together these arbitrary dance numbers. It is fascinating and well worth your time provided that you want something otherworldly from your dance films. Admittedly, it doesn't have nearly as much spectacle, but it presents everything with much more heart and interpretation, which is its ultimate success.
The one catch is that unlike any Step Up film, it has one specific soundtrack. For those familiar, it is by mash-up artist Girl Talk from the album "All Day," which itself is a behemoth of sampling music and compiling it into stream of consciousness and finding new insight in familiar territory. It is a rather interesting listen that will take you on a journey, provided that contemporary music is something you are into and have no qualms with sampling. However, this diverse soundtrack makes for a great diverse portrait of a city, its characters, and even your emotional state. It clocks in at under 80 minutes, but its energy will stick with you in unexpected ways.
The biggest benefit? It is free to watch online right now. Consider checking it out and discovering what dancing films could be like. There is a plot, but not too much. It is all about conveying and leaving an impression more than trying to string together these arbitrary dance numbers. It is fascinating and well worth your time provided that you want something otherworldly from your dance films. Admittedly, it doesn't have nearly as much spectacle, but it presents everything with much more heart and interpretation, which is its ultimate success.
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