MovieBabe Blog

Under discussion:

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights  (2004)

By Tricia Olszewski 

By now, most of the Gen X girls who swooned over Dirty Dancing’s hot summer fairy tale have likely stopped fantasizing about playing Baby to some smokin’ Johnny Castle. But hearts may flutter anew at the opening credits of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a “reimagining” of the 1987 hit that boasts it’s “based on true events.” Yes, some dreams apparently do come true—though if yours is to have the time of your life at this it’s-not-a-sequel, you’d have a better chance of hitting the lottery.

Havana Nights sets its dirty action in late-’50s Cuba, where the virginal Katey (I Capture the Castle’s Romola Garai) has relocated with her family because of her father’s job. Uncomfortable with the snooty and racist country-clubbers in the familial social circle, Katey tries to keep her nose in her books—that is, until she catches some street dancers bustin’ a move while she’s walking home. Soon enough, Katey has learned a few steps outside the repertoire of her ex-professional-dancer parents (Sela Ward and John Slattery), struck up a friend- and partnership with gyrating busboy Javier (Diego Luna), and signed up for the Big Dance Competition, hoping that the purse will help Javier move his family out of the revolution-torn country.

Director Guy Ferland seems to believe that allowing Cuba’s turbulent politics to intrude into (and eventually supersede) Katey and Javier’s story offers depth, but the move merely extinguishes what little heat is generated by the wan leads. True, Luna brings some of his androgynous Y Tu Mamá También sizzle to his scenes, but Garai, even when poured into her dress, is devoid of the requisite not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman fire. The choreography, often set to a head-scratchingly hiphop-tinged soundtrack, isn’t terribly ambitious or rousing, though fans of the original DD may be tickled to see Jennifer Grey’s overhead-arm move quoted several times. Also fun is sighting a certain slobbered-over dance instructor, if only for a second: When the camera zooms in on the weird, Botoxed-looking visage of an aging Patrick Swayze, the cameo is less likely to leave you murmuring, “Oooh, Johnny Castle!” than “What was I thinking?”

By Tricia Olszewski 

If your knowledge of traditional Italian music begins and ends with “O Sole Mio,” Neapolitan Heart isn’t going to hold your hand. Or maybe it is: Director Paolo Santoni is more concerned with the sentiment of the classic music than its history, and as the documentarian trolls neighborhoods from New York to Naples investigating the current state of musica napoletana, most of the insight regarding the songs runs along the lines of “Listening to them always does you good.”

The performers, most of them old men and one of them Jerry Vale, are interviewed at length but often not identified until the end credits—a decision that might leave the uninitiated viewer questioning the significance of what’s being presented. The emotion of Neapolitan Heart, however, is indisputable: A Buena Vista Social Club for Italians, the movie is full of passion, keeping the company of lively folks who can warble mournfully of broken hearts but would much rather croon lustfully about a lover’s rosebud mouth. Santoni highlights the romance and melodrama of the sound reportedly gleaned from “Arab laments and Spanish folk songs” by weaving in scenes of outsized swooning and longing stares from the silent movies that became popular during the music’s golden age.

Because many modern singers of Neapolitan music perform at weddings and other celebrations, the mood of this documentary is predominantly joyous, weighed down only by an oddly dark conclusion: a guttural interpretation of Peppe Barra’s war song “Tammurriata Nera,” a performance prefaced with words about the children of rape and accompanied by images of destruction. Press notes inform that the scene is meant “to emphasize the turning point in the evolution of Neapolitan music,” but nothing else in the movie indicates when or how the music turned. Still, Neapolitan Heart doesn’t completely lack for an explanation of the music it lauds: When describing its appeal, one performer clarifies that the songs are all about the beauty of love—and “never the banality of the relationship itself.”

Under discussion:

You Got Served  (2004)

By Tricia Olszewski 

There’s a lot you have to forgive in You Got Served—starting with everything in between the battle scenes. Luckily, this street-dancing Bring It On is loaded with them, allowing you to quickly forget about such missteps as cheesy dialogue, an overobvious shot at the heartstrings, and even the two main characters’ slo-mo grooves in the night rain.

You Got Served’s story, by first-time writer-director Chris Stokes, focuses on the crew headed by best friends Elgin (IMx’s Marques Houston) and David (B2K’s Omari Grandberry, aka Omarion). They easily win every local battle and are soon enough accepting a $5,000 challenge from an unknown crew, led by cocky white boy Wade (a perfectly sinister-looking Christopher Jones). When Wade & Co. show up with a routine that steals from and improves upon Elgin and David’s signature moves, well, the good guys get served, forcing Elgin to take on just one more job as a mule so he can pay back the money his grandmomma rather unbelievably lent him. And though David would normally help him out, he’s too busy getting busy with El’s sister, Liyah (Jennifer Freeman), who embodies the word “bourgie” by saying “Your boy is really tripping” without an apostrophe in earshot.

The falling out that ensues may be a touch melodramatic—and its resolution predictable—but for all of its after-school-specialness, You Got Served is refreshingly wholesome, with characters who are realistically street-savvy without being thugs. (I’m looking at you, Honey.) And besides, these kids can bring it: The battle sequences are filmed without the usual creative edits, but the showcase moves are nonetheless jaw-droppingly athletic, enhanced by a soundtrack that eschews the beats of B2K during big scenes for heavier hitters such as DMX and Timbaland. It’s all terribly entertaining, even if You Got Served’s serious side sometimes leaves you nostalgic for Breakin’.