Ballet 422 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Ballet 422 Blu-ray Movie Review

People Who Need People

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 27, 2015

You don't have to be a ballet fan to enjoy Ballet 422, although anyone familiar with the art form will undoubtedly get more out of Jody Lee Lipes's account of the creation of an original piece for the New York City Ballet, one of the world's leading dance companies. The Ballet was established in 1948 by George Balanchine, who was joined the following year by Jerome Robbins as associate artistic director. In the 77 years that followed, the institution has hosted numerous luminaries, but Ballet 422 chronicles the work of an unknown: a novice choreographer plucked from the company and navigating his way through the process of creating his first major work for exhibition before a discerning audience.

Lipes is less interested in the technical refinements of ballet, which would limit the audience for Ballet 422 to the cognoscenti, than he is in the process of collaboration itself. In this instance, the 25-year-old choreographer, Justin Peck, was working in a familiar environment with people he had known for years. Only the relationships had changed, as Peck became their leader. The equivalent in cinema would be an actor from a group that works together frequently suddenly finding him- or herself promoted to writer/director (since a choreographer both creates the dance, and then teaches it to the dancers who perform it).

Peck has been part of the Ballet since 2006, first as an apprentice, then as a member of the company. (Since the events of Ballet 422, he has been promoted to soloist.) In 2009, he began studying at the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of the Ballet, under Peter Martins, who is the Ballet Master in Chief. Martins was sufficiently impressed with Peck's abilities that, in 2011, he asked Peck to create an original composition for the Ballet, which would be its 422nd new work. Peck, who is from San Diego, chose music celebrating the nearby coastal town of La Jolla by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martin. He called the piece Paz de la Jolla.

Lipes's camera follows Peck through every stage of Paz's creation. Modern technology is a useful aid, as Peck begins "drafting" the piece alone in a rehearsal room with an iPhone recording his experiments. Later, we see him transcribing the moves he plans to incorporate into a notebook in what Peck confirms in the commentary is his own form of shorthand. He selects three members from the company as his principal dancers: Tiler Peck (no relation), Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar. His exchanges with these dancers (at least those that Lipes includes in Ballet 422) are a combination of word and gesture, and they are almost meaningless to an outsider. What matters is the tone, which is easygoing and almost tentative, as the dancers and choreographer focus together on working out the appropriate moves for realizing Peck's vision.

Interactions continue with all of the departments involved in producing a stage show in the huge auditorium formerly known as the New York State Theatre and rechristened the David H. Koch Theatre in 2008. Over and over, Lipes focuses on the tone and style of the interactions, rather than their content. An especially revealing exchange occurs when pianist Cameron Grant, who accompanies many of the rehearsals, quietly takes Peck aside when the company transfers to the main stage and suggests the Peck speak directly to the orchestra. On the commentary, Peck confirms that such communication is an unusual practice, because dancers and musicians occupy separate realms, but Grant clearly understands the importance of establishing rapport in this situation where the musicians are dealing with a new choreographer. Lipes includes Peck's brief speech to the orchestra, in which Peck is nervous and the orchestra is surprised but appreciative.

Nothing better illustrates Lipes's approach than his handling of the actual premiere of Paz de la Jolla. The obvious choice would be to point the camera at the stage and record the dancers, but Lipes show very little of their performance. Instead, he begins by focusing on Peck sitting in the audience watching his work come to fruition; then Lipes cuts to a montage of earlier scenes from various stages of the work's creation. It is a reminder of everything and everyone involved in bringing a group performance to completion. After the performance, Peck has yet one more task before him, which serves as a fitting coda to Ballet 422's theme of collaboration.

Ballet 422 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Director Lipes served as his own cinematographer for most of Ballet 422, with assistance from documentary DP Nick Bentgen during times when Lipes could not be present. The shooting format was not specified, but the film's credits contain the Canon logo, which suggests that the film was shot with DSLR digital cameras, which are often favored by low-budget filmmakers. Magnolia Pictures' 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray appears to have been sourced directly from high-definition digital files after editing and post-production color-correction. The image reflects the customary virtues of digital capture, with detail and sharpness limited only by the shortcomings of the available light. Black levels are accurate, which doesn't necessarily mean that the blacks are always solid. Without the ability to light professionally, documentary footage sometimes reproduces blacks that are poorly defined, and this happens from time to time in Ballet 422, but the fault is in the source, not the Blu-ray. Colors are generally naturalistic, with no attempt to heighten or intensify them.

Since the film is only 75 minutes, Magnolia has opted for a BD-25. The average bitrate of 21.99 Mbps is low by Magnolia's usual standards but adequate for digitally acquired material, and no artifacts appeared.

Ballet 422 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although Ballet 422 has a 5.1 soundtrack, which has been encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA, there is little for the surround channels to do. The mix is typical of documentaries in that the sound remains front-oriented. The orchestral performances (pre-recorded and otherwise) have room to breathe, but this is not a film where accurately reproducing the musical performance is a high priority. The exchanges among the various dancers, department heads and crews are usually clear; when they are not, non-switchable subtitles have been included. (Switchable English SDH subtitles are also available.)

Ballet 422 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director Jody Lee Lipes and Dancer/Choreographer Justin Peck: The director and "star" chat amiably about the circumstances surrounding various scenes and Peck fills in details about the development of Paz de la Jolla and his working relations with various participants. Lipes describes the overall design of the project and his cinema verité approach.



• Creating Ballet 422 (1080p; 1.78:1; 5:34): In interviews that could almost be part of the film, Peck, Lipes and several of the principal dancers discuss the creation of Paz de la Jolla.



• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 11:52): The ten scenes are not separately listed or selectable. The majority consist of Peck rehearsing with his dancers.



• Choreography Sketches Gallery (1080p; various): Ten excerpts from Peck's notebook.



• Costume Design Gallery (1080p; various): Ten sketches, watercolors and references for various costumes.



• Music, Lighting & Stage Management Gallery (1080p; various): Nine pages from scores, lighting cue lists and call sheets.



• Trailer (1080p; 1.78:1; 2:04): "Step behind the curtain for a rare look at one of America's most elite institutions."



• Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for Life Itself, Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Venus and Serena, as well as promos for the Chideo web service and AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward button.



• BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check back for updates".

Ballet 422 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dance is not the only art form requiring a group effort. EPKs and making-of documentaries routinely attempt to capture the same sense of collaboration in film that Lipes seems to convey so effortlessly for dance in Ballet 422, but it never comes across as effectively. I suspect that has much to do with the fact that Justin Peck was working in an established institution that fosters long-term relationships, something the film business has lacked since the demise of the old studio system. Also, the film industry is awash in hucksterism and self-promotion, none of which intrudes into Ballet 422, probably because ballet isn't a populist art form (which has its pluses and minuses) and also because Peck is young and just starting out. Had Lipes followed an established choreographer (assuming one would allow it), he probably would have recorded a different story. Recommended.