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The Dancer Upstairs

Pasos de baile (The Dancer Upstairs)

2002

John Malkovich

Javier Bardem, Laura Morante, Juan Diego Botto, Elvira Mínguez ...

5.6

1,308

Thriller. Drama. Mystery Actor John Malkovich made his directorial debut with this tense political drama, set in an unnamed Latin American nation and based on a novel by Nicholas Shakespeare. Agustin Rejas (Javier Bardem) is a former lawyer who became a police detective as a more direct way of dealing with crime and justice. Rejas has been assigned to investigate a group of terrorists who are determined to up-end the current government through any means ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Elvis Mitchell The New York Times	"The ride is somber, understated and chilling."	POS
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"'The Dancer Upstairs' is elegantly, even languorously, photographed by Jose Luis Alcaine (...) It moves with a compelling intensity toward its conclusion (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	David Rooney Variety	"The film is powered by a superbly controlled performance from Javier Bardem (...) This intelligent, arrestingly sober drama packs a cumulative punch"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"[Malkovich] has directed a deeply impressive debut feature, and moreover elicited a superb performance from Javier Bardem (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Keith Phipps AV Club	"Though he never quite rescues the film, Bardem continually suggests the tensions bubbling under the surface that 'Dancer' itself never penetrates."	NEU
United Kingdom	Tom Dawson BBC	"[Malkovich] carefully constructs a threatening atmosphere and, throughout the unhurried pacing, allows us to get a real sense of Rejas' [life] (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"From [its] tangled web, Malkovich weaves something delicate and devastating (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS

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