Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 7: GETTING TO THE NUTCRACKER
Serene Meshel-Dillman’s behind-the-scenes ballet doc made its debut at the Atlanta Film Festival this Spring, where it picked up an award. Other fests have included Dances With Films, Las Vegas, and Kansas.
For decades, Tchaikovsky’s THE NUTCRACKER has been a perennial holiday favorite, a family crowdpleaser performed by both professional ballet companies and amateurs alike in hundreds of stagings around the country. The Marat Daukayev School of Ballet in Los Angeles serves as the setting for Meshel-Dillman’s look at the preparation for one such production. Narrated by Pamela, the managing director of the school, the film offers an overview of the audition process, identifies several young subjects, checks in with some parents, and occasionally spotlights, all too briefly, parts of the dance in the lead up to their debut. While the performers seem to have the potential to be interesting documentary subjects, Meshel-Dillman doesn’t showcase them enough to allow for clear personalities to be revealed, opting instead for more of an overarching survey approach. Combined with an over-reliance on narration, the film tends to drag as a result. Still, as a backstage look at a familiar performance, it’s a likeable enough diversion.
what (not) to doc 