Asks the Slate writer Nadira Goff, in "How Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo’s Delightfully Weird Dance in Poor Things Came Together/Choreographer Constanza Macras on the standout scene, working with Yorgos Lanthimos, and expanding the idea of what dance is."
The choreographer answers: "It’s described in the script as a dance that is really going off because she’s just finding out [about dance]. So, with that in mind, I tried to create. [The director] was not convinced about some things; it looked too much like acting. When we passed it to the actors, then it grew and took shape. Emma Stone also had really good suggestions about her character because she was working, already, on this way that she moves. She brought in locking the knees. That gave shape to this dance as well."
Stone's character is a Frankenstein creation, so we may well compare the dancing to the Frankenstein in "Young Frankenstein":
That Frankenstein monster is able to dance smoothly, but his singing is very rough. That's the joke, and that gets to the question I was googling when I found that Emma Stone dance: Why do dancers always try to look as though what they are doing is very easy (for them) and pure joy (for them) while singers often act as though it's quite difficult and even painful? That's a big difference between singing and dancing, and I don't think it's because singing is more arduous and hurtful. Perhaps it's because the opposite is true, and the dancer must hide his feelings lest the audience turn away. But we don't turn away when a singer displays a horrible struggle and deep pain. We like that. What's our problem?!
I formulated my question after watching Fred Astaire and George Murphy in the first part of "Broadway Melody of 1940" (now streaming on the Criterion Channel). The first musical number is "Don't Monkey With Broadway" (modeling, for future satirists, how 2 men dance together in formalwear while wielding canes):
The men are unhappy with their job. We see them complaining back stage before they stride out beaming with joy — joy that does not exist but that the audience demands.
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38 comments:
It looks like bad acting for a weird soap opera.
For natural awkward, Sofia Helin in The Bridge (2011-2018 4 seasons, recommend Swedish with English subtitles) is great as a Swedish detective with high performing aspergers. The actress said it wasn't easy to learn the social mistakes and she practiced all the time. Her city Malmo apparently is a no-go town for whites now, incidentally, so it's a nostalgia piece as well.
There's a French/English version in The Tunnel that isn't bad, and an awful The Bridge for Mexico/US.
🎶 Put Harlem in the Dark...🎶
How so quintessentially 1940.
Fabulous movie. Anything with Fred is a delight.
For whatever reason, making it look easy is key to a good dance--the movements have to be smooth, the body lithe. But the singer reaches deep for emotion. Their pain shows their sincerity.
I found the Poor Things dance uninteresting. I simply can't believe that she is so unself-conscious. There's no way someone with that backstory would just run out on the to floor among the other dancers and do whatever the spirit moved her to do.
Pleasantly surprised. I may have to watch...hard to see how they put the political propaganda in a period-y piece like that though I wouldn't put it past them just breaking 4th wall or something. They've all been getting their heads handed to them economically so maybe the money people said stifle Edith...
Pink did a good job with the trapeze sling thing singing and performing. Graceful...
Watched the clips in reverse order; I was almost not going to watch the Emma stone clip, believing it to be simply pretty poor, but actually thought it quite interesting. Probably won’t watch the movie as the story idea isn’t to my taste, but decided to find Young Frankenstein, this Christmas.
Reminded me of this scene from The Favourite. My favorite.
What's our problem?!
The theme of the blog reveals itself!
God I love Young Frankenstein.
I like rejahm's Pink reference. There are at least some scenes in musicals and operas where the singing is relaxed, even joyful, maybe going with moving around or dancing. Maria and the captain, late in Sound of Music, really ought to be kissing, but they sing into each other's faces.
Can't believe no one has referenced Elaine Benes from Seinfeld!
A surreal mash-up of Frankenstein and Pygmalion is unlike any other movie being made today. Lanthimos has a very unusual take on things which feels like fresh air. Lanthimos's Dogtooth was a brilliant allegory of life under fascism.
Emma Stone just burns up the screen with talent and energy. Dafoe's devotion to the so-called art film is a thing of wonder. Those Spidey gigs must have really paid off, ditto Ruffalo's turn as the Hulk.
I read the novel POOR THINGS some years ago, at least a decade ago, if not longer. I can't remember a thing about the novel other than that I liked it. I didn't even connect the advertised movie with a book I had read years ago until I saw a reference to the novel's writer, Alasdair Gray.* I recognized the name immediately, as I have two other books by him, the autobiographical A LIFE IN PICTURES (as he was an artist as well as prolific writer) and LANARK, a challenging, strange, and phantasmagorical book that I didn't get very far into and which is considered a masterpiece. I'll have to revisit these books, particularly because I have always intended to give LANARK another try.
*(I did see a comment in a piece about the movie to the effect that the movie POOR THINGS is much changed from the novel.)
The director has a thing about weird dance moves - see the scene in “The Favorite” when there is an insane dance scene between Rachel Weisz and her partner that is so ahistorical that it shocks. But in the context of the movie - it makes sense. Poor things wasn’t as tightly constructed as The Favorite too - it’s almost random in sections ( but it’s the mind of a child developing, so I get it). I thought the dance scene in question was more a jape with the Mark Ruffalo character trying to cover up the random/ crazy moves by Emma Stone on the dance floor from the other people in the room - more of a “I need to control you at every second” move consistent with his character.
Go watch clips of Selena performing, preferably at the Astrodome on February 26, 1995. Pure joy. When she sings and dances to a fun song like La Carcacha, she’s clearly having the time of her life. Her husband is on guitar. Imagine the ecstasy of making music, what God gifted you for and put you on earth to do, with the people you love best; husband, brother, sister; her parents are behind the scenes. And you’re sharing this joy with sixty thousand people. What a gift!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOpZylrrymM&pp=ygUSc2VsZW5hIGxhIGNhcmNhY2hh
When she performs her closer Como la Flor she makes the sad faces to communicate the meaning of the song but she is obviously loving every minute of it and she makes it look completely effortless. The camera catches her closing her eyes and then opening them and looking at the crowd and the warmest happiest most genuine smile you can imagine spreads across her face. She notices the camera and waves girlishly, delighted, a little bandaid on her hand where she broke a nail and didn’t bother to fix it. At the end of the song, which no one knew would be the last ever that she would perform publicly, she thanks the audience no fewer than six times. She must have been suffused with deep joy. Bless her memory. She was an angel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZTgDjRLM0&pp=ygUdc2VsZW5hIGNvbW8gbGEgZmxvciBhc3Ryb2RvbWU%3D
"A woman with a child's brain" is such a wide-open straight line that it's hard to know where to go with it.
Interesting Criterion clip. Compared to the other guy, Astaire looks like he's moving in a .8 g-force environment.
the spoiler is because her brain was transplanted from a fetus, she behaves this way, I will leave it to you to ruminate on what this behavior entails,
I'm going to be a bit of a curmudgeon on the idea that kids don't know how to dance. Children have very natural movement, it's innate. A lot of movement that we recognize as dance comes from children's play. A dance choreographer worth her salt would have found a random group of 4 year olds, played the song and filmed their movement for inspiration. It would have been more organic. I found it a little forced.
I do so enjoy when our hostess throws her audience a curve.
1. The room itself, low winter sun lighting, moderate shadowing, oval pattern to the room layout with an interesting pattern on the dance floor that is reminiscent of a certain carpet pattern from the shining.
2. Disjointed dialogue, the actors seem to be speaking past one another rather than conversing.
3. The dance itself, she flings herself into the music, he joins her as if to save her, but she physically demonstrates, she needs no saving and towards the end, Ruffalo’s character allows her to take the lead
I guess I am intrigued enough to put this on my watch list
Thanks Ann
Children realizing they have shadows are a good example of the phenomenon the dance suggests. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EuTQKmZ1Yj4
Thanks for warning me off this movie. Different doesn't equal good.
"... basically a woman with a child's brain." Hmmmm.
Me: “Oh, I like Emma Stone; I’ll see this. .. Wait, Mark Ruffalo’s in it? Never mind. Fucking left-wing douchebag antisemite. I’ll never watch anything he’s in again, nor re-watch anything he was in that I liked before knowing what a fucking left-wing douchebag antisemite he is—like You Can Count on Me. Sorry, Emma. Choose better co-stars next time, because I suspect there are a lot of people like me.”
Why is that cocksucker Ruffalo in every movie these days?
He's a communist lunatic, so I won't be seeing this or anything else he's in.
Too bad as Stone is great.
'Can't believe no one has referenced Elaine Benes from Seinfeld!'
Waiting for you.
@john:
As someone who had the 'privilege' of being in SCA and attending their events with authentic 12-13th century dances, it's not all that far off from some of them.
As for the topic's dance, Ortega did it much better.
“ When she sings and dances to a fun song like La Carcacha, she’s clearly having the time of her life.”
I would consider the possibility that she was acting. The stage performance may have been grueling and part of the work lay in convincing the audience that she’s experiencing joy.
The other day I was watching clips of the Pogues and my 5 year old came in, stopped, listened intently, and then did a little Irish style thing with her feet. Fascinated, I asked where she’d seen someone dance like that, a movie or something? and she was puzzled and asked where had she seen what? It just came to her and she didn’t really know what she was doing as she was doing it. Ancestral memory for my little half-Irish colleen, perhaps.
Thank you, professor, for the helpful suggestion that I am not familiar with the concept of a “performance” but that is precisely the point of my comment: Selena was extraordinary because she was genuine and not putting on an act for the money and attention. I live in her hometown and know many people who knew her personally and the story is the same from everyone. Watch her. She’s charming and genuine and mesmerizing.
I’m a grumpy cynical misanthrope and even I find her magical precisely because she was authentically a pure and loving person when most people who act that way are not.
Don't need to watch that movie. Which is good, because I generally can't stand Ruffalo.
His brother was killed by a producer who was the grand daughter of a saudi spymaster
https://deadline.com/2013/12/ronni-chasen-scott-ruffalo-beverly-hills-police-investigations-questions-652104/
Yeah Pants, I agree that Selena was genuine. Especially because she was guned down before any of the negatives of being a big star and performing weighed her down.
Eight years, fifteen days of two one hour performances per - and I enjoyed every show.
There's a contagion between the exhilaration of physical movements and joy/happiness. Add in singing (my role was also the ring master, so audience interaction as well) and it's very uplifting. That's why you'll even see smiles on the faces of ring fighters after the bout is over.
The dancing style in the first clip has to be markedly different from the other two because so is the music.
The first clip is heavy-handed, hitting you over the head non-stop by emphasizing the beat; it's almost industrial, and devoid of joy.
But the music for Astaire is lightly jazzy, playful, and syncopated. Astaire always made the dancing look easy, and singing syncopations sound natural.
I'm glad I waited to comment. Tim Maguire did a great job of capturing my thoughts of the "dance". Throw in narciso's spoiler about a fetus brain, and none of it would makes sense to me. I agree children have innate reaction to music, but a fetus would have difficulty with the basic motor skills of walking, and not doing leg kicks like a confused flamingo dancer.
Then there are the actors. As Cassandra noted, I like Emma Stone, but Mark Ruffalo is a hard pass. I guess, considering what she is portraying, Emma Stone does a great job acting and looking like one of my aunts that had a lifelong learning disability, yet I can't say the real life experience would make me enjoy a movie.
As for the effort of dance and singing, I've found that the best singers make it look effortless too. Indeed, just watch a little of American Idol, and you discover how many think singing is easier than it really is. For an interesting combination of both singing and dancing, see the video for Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" (3.7 billion views on YouTube) and then the behind the scenes video for making it.
Based upon Wednesday, maybe Lanthimos should have asked Jenna Ortega to do his choreography.
Anyone else cringe at Ruffalo's "accent" Horrible!
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