And Then We Danced Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

And Then We Danced Blu-ray Movie Review

Უკეთესი ხდება.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 23, 2020

It may strike some as just a little bit strange that a film that takes place in the country (and former Soviet republic) of Georgia, one that features a lot of Georgian performers and also liberally provides both Georgian language and music, would have been Sweden’s entry into last year’s sweepstakes for the Best International Film at the Academy Awards, but such are the vagaries of that particular category. And Then We Danced didn’t make the final roster of nominees for the Oscars, but it’s picked up a cartload of other international awards, including several at Sweden’s own version of the Academy Awards, the Guldbagge Awards, where among other honors it was feted with Best Film. And Then We Danced is the creation of writer-director Levan Akin, a Swedish filmmaker (hence that disconnect alluded to above) who nonetheless evidently has Georgian ancestry and who was shocked enough by a violent reaction to a “pride parade” in Tblisi that he found out about years ago that the spark of an idea started to form. Akin is more than forthcoming in both his commentary on this disc as well as some of the other supplements that And Then We Danced had a kind of inchoate gestational period, and that Akin himself didn’t really have a blueprint etched in stone (so to speak) for what kind of story he wanted to tell, which perhaps makes the film’s ultimate impact all the more impressive.

Two perhaps antithetical elements are at play in And Then We Danced, with dance itself, evidently a "national pastime" of almost obsessive proportions in Georgia that might be compared to how some folks feel about professional sports in the United States, and an Art that some might almost instinctively define as "feminine", coming into conflict with what is also evidently another "national pastime" in Georgia: homophobia. As Akin perhaps viscerally realized when he found out about the vicious attacks launched against the pride parade in Tblisi, the staunchly conservative Georgian ethos has not always melded well with increasingly "woke" sensibilities. Akin personalizes this conflict in the form of focal character Merab (impressive newcomer Levan Gelbakhiani), an ambitious dancer trying to make his name with the National Georgian Ensemble, but who also has to come to grips with his increasing realization that he's gay.

What is made clear almost from the get go as Merab and a number of other dancers are shown in rehearsals, is that the Georgians not only take their dance routines very seriously, they are downright insistent that "proper" gender roles be depicted in the dance, this despite the fact that somewhat illogically their martinet instructor also makes it clear that there's "no sexuality" in Georgian dance. Merab is repeatedly told to be "more masculine", and Merab's partner Mary (Ana Javakishvili) is similarly schooled in how to always have her gaze lowered to the ground so that she's appropriately "virginal". It all may come off as a bit peculiar to more libertine Westerners, but it instantly details the strictures that these dancers work under, even if "correct" gender roles and "no sexuality" seem to be at cross purposes to each other. When a rabble rouser dancer named Irakli (Bachi Valishvili) shows up and seems to be the sort of natural talent that those who have to work at things end up despising, an almost instantaneous tension develops between Irakli and Merab, especially since both may be competing for a featured role in the National Georgian Ensemble.

If the tension between Irakli and Merab seems largely "professional" as the story begins unfolding, it soon becomes decidedly more "personal", as Merab starts to understand his feelings for Irakli are indeed sexual. The film doesn't really offer any revelatory new insights into the challenges of coming to this sort of realization, or indeed even for Merab's expected if bittersweet "coming out", but the story's distinctive location and the overall culture it portrays makes And Then We Danced a rather fascinating piece that may well interest those who otherwise might not consider themselves the prime demographic for this kind of tale. And in fact, it may be in some of the "extracurricular" material here that And Then We Danced finds some of its most memorable vignettes. Even decidedly tangential issues like Merab's pretty dysfunctional home life, or even some of the views of things like poorly stocked grocery shelves at Georgian markets, tend to give a "feel" for what Georgia may be like, above and beyond both the text and subtext of this particular story.

As Akin gets into in various supplements on this release, he shot this largely with handheld cameras in an intentionally verité style, but I’m frankly not sure that conceit fully meshes with some of the more histrionic plot points in both the dance rehearsal sequences as well as some of the interrelationships depicted, including in Merab’s kind of disjointed family life. That said, this is such an unusual setting for a film that it consistently maintains interest, even if some of the supposedly cathartic moments can come off as almost comical.

And Then We Danced Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

And Then We Danced is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb doesn't have any technical data on the shoot, but I was able to unearth this article detailing cameras used for films in competition at Cannes where director of photography Lisabi Fridell discloses that Arri Alexa Minis were utilized (Fridell also gets into some of the handheld rigging and lenses that were used, for those interested in such data points). This is a nicely sharp and well detailed looking transfer, but despite the addition of digital grain, it can sometimes also be a bit "flat" looking at times, with what might be termed more of a "video" like sheen, especially in some of the rehearsal studio scenes, which may be due in part to shallow depth of field to begin with and the prevalence of only white and black in the palette . There are nice pops of color throughout, however, (it seems an intentional stylistic choice that the rehearsal scenes are in stark almost black and white, while the "outside" world springs into considerably more hues), and in fact it doesn't look like any really aggressive grading at all was employed. Still, there are a some scenes drenched in an almost honey colored amber tone, and some other scenes, notably a nightclub sequence, offer other arguably slightly more lurid colors. Detail levels are generally high throughout the presentation, aided by a preponderance of well lit material, even in some interior locations, though the "on the fly" filming techniques employed can mean that focus is occasionally briefly variable. .

And Then We Danced Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Note: Apologies to any native Georgian speakers who may blanch at the above specs until they're updated, but I chose that language as geographically if not etymologically closest to Georgian, since this is evidently the first Blu-ray we've reviewed with Georgian language tracks, and it will take a little while to get the database revised.

And Then We Danced features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in Georgian. There's some cool sounding "national" music employed in several of the dance scenes, with some nice sounding percussion, and later there are some kind of unexpectedly cheeky source cues (which won't be spoiled here). Both the rehearsal material as well as later scenes like the nightclub sequence employ good use of the surround channels to create a realistic ambience. Urban sounds can populate some of the outdoor material as well. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly on this problem free track.

And Then We Danced Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Feature Commentary with Director Levan Akin


• "A Film Made with Love" (1080p; 10:56) is an interesting interview with Levan Akin, who gets into the genesis of the project, as well as some of the rigors of the shoot, which was swathed in misdirection so that Georgian authorities wouldn't shut it down due to its subject matter.


• Filmmaker Q&A from the New York Premiere (1080p; 23:44) offers Akin again, with Julie George and Tanya Domi from Columbia University after a February 2020 screening.


• Georgian Dance Tutorial with Levan and Bachi (1080p; 3:12) is a fun piece shot on a gorgeous dock in Cannes.


• Cast Dance Party (1080p; 1:39) is a kind of silly but sweet piece that looks like it was shot with someone's phone.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:54)

And Then We Danced Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

And Then We Danced presents a story that is by now going to be more than familiar to many, but it does so with such an unusual surrounding context that a lot of it can seem at least a bit "new". Performances are quite winning, and some of the dance rehearsal footage is really interesting. Technical merits are solid, and the supplementary package has some good items as well. Recommended.