Required Viewing: STEP UP 2 THE STREETS by Kat Fitzgerald Studio: Touchstone Pictures (Disney) Director: Jon M. Chu Choreographers: Jamal Sims. Hi-Hat, Dave Scott, Rhapsody James, Kejamel Howell, Troy Kirby, Kristi Crader This sequel to the smash hit STEP UP released in August, 2006 marks the directorial debut for Jon M. Chu backed by much of the production team behind STEP UP, choreographer Jamal Sims, plus choreographers Hi-Hat and Dave Scott (STOMP THE YARD). Patrick Wachsberger & Erik Feig of Summit Entertainment produced the feature with Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot of Offspring Entertainment. Letter to the Editor… “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but STEP UP 2 should be required viewing for anybody interested in the development of dance on film. It uses classic techniques, but also incorporates new ideas without the dance-sacrificing clumsiness that is usually involved in trying to cut the standard urban teen dance film for modern pacing. I know exactly how ridiculous this sounds. But I’m completely serious. The storyline is totally forgettable, but the movie is packed with awesome dancing, shot with an amazing understanding of camera movement, beautifully lit, playful with things like frame rate without being too heavy handed with it, and cut in such a way that it is fast paced, but doesn’t let you miss any of the important aspects of the dance. For some reason, there was a weird cross section of people in the theater the afternoon I saw it, kids, nannys, girls my age, and then a few random older men by themselves. By the end of the film, everyone was cheering and clapping. Simple proof that nobody can resist a well done dance-off in the rain!!! I did a little research into who shot and cut it. It’s the cinematographer, Max Malkin’s second or third film, but the editor, Andrew Marcus, has a lot of experience doing really creative stuff (HEDWIG, Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN, and Ivory Merchant movies). The result is the combo of good camera instincts from somebody younger that understands the dancing better, and a really capable editor that has good pacing, but isn’t completely ADD.” Kat Fitzgerald, editor/tango aficionada/host of Dance Film Lab   The dancing muse, Louise Brooks by Deirdre Towers Alain Robbe-Grillet died on Monday, February 18, age 85. A French author whose writing could resemble a cubist painting, Alain Robbe-Grillet wrote the screen play for the film classic directed by Alain Resnais LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD (1961). His writing could trigger a visit to a side of yourself you might not recognize in waking hours. He wrote as though he were trying to assemble a puzzle. The Film Forum just showed a new 35mm print of LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD which sparked these reviews below “a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection.” J. Hoberman, The Village Voice. “… Resnais gave us film as music — formal, reiterative and forever abstract. Follow it as you would a string quartet, a ballet or a mysteriously animated painting that changes ever so slightly as you watch.” Tim Page, The Washington Post In my meditative googling on Resnais and Marienbad, I came across an article I recommend called “Last Year at Marienbad: An Intertextual Meditation” by Thomas Beltzer. He points out that the script was inspired by a novella “The Invention of Morel,” written in the 1940s by Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914 – 1999) “about a fugitive on a deserted island who wakes one day to discover that his island is filled with people who dance, stroll up and down, and swim in the pool, as if this were a summer resort like Los Teques or Marienbad. Morel’s invention is a diabolical holographic recording device that captures all of the senses in three dimensions. It is diabolical because it destroys its subject in the recording process, rotting the skin and flesh off of its bones, thus gruesomely confirming the native fear of being photographed and also, perhaps, warning of the dangers of art holding up a mirror to nature.” Casares was in love with the silent screen era dancer and siren Louise Brooks at the time. Perhaps his plot grew from a jealous rage that the film industry was keeping him apart from Louise. One could at the least suggest that a dancer was the muse for the book that inspired LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD which has in turn made many a film artist ponder (however subliminally) abstract models to free narratives from their usual structure. And now for yet another twist and recycling of cinematic history, consider the plot of this week’s release of Michel Gondry’s new film BE KIND REWIND. The official website states that “Jack Black stars as a New Jersey mechanic who accidentally demagnetizes every video in the rental store where his best friend works. Their solution is to remake every video themselves”. While Alain Resnais played on a fear at the time that people would become numb with boredom, Gondry plays on the fear that we may run out of entertainment, that our source of amusement might be destroyed, that we may become a culture with a history so vulnerable that it could vanish in the tweak of a magnetic eye. Artists Celebrating at Dance on Camera Festival           Winners of the Jury Prize for FLYING LESSON Dancers Andrea Lerner and Rosanne Chamecki         (left to right) dancer Jock Soto, director Gwendolen Cates for WATER FLOWING TOGETHER, Winner of Jury Prize, Savion Glover (Master of Timing)           Bboys celebrating after INSIDE THE CIRCLE, nominated for the Jury Prize at the Walter Reade Theatre Photos by Sophie J. Shin                 Savion Glover and the late Gregory Hines Photo by Nanette Melville