Review of Five Dances

The opening scene sees a boy rehearsing all by himself, in front of a mirror, with a brooding and wounded look upon his face. That's how the first few minutes flow - in silence and accompanied only by the music, without any frame upheavals. Both dialogues and plot are quite skimpy during the whole story arc, but this didn't prevent the movie from being intense and well conceived. Chip is a young and talented boy who hides a soul in torment - he can't afford a flat, he needs to sleep in the rehearsal room, he's extremely shy at the beginning, he keeps his distance from the other team members (he'd rather use ventriloquism to communicate), he struggles to accept his sexuality, he can't choose between going back to his mother and staying in New York to pursue his dream. The entire story revolves around Chip and the other dancers rehearsing in this big room, while their relationships begin to develop. We have an interesting turning point with the sex scene between Chip and Theo, in the second half of the film - personally, I found it very sensual, by no means rude or vulgar: we can almost admire them dancing while they make love, accomplice the soundtrack in the background, always gentle and passionate. It's very peculiar - from the perspective of the viewers - to note how all the dancers acknowledge their skills and acquire more competence in what they do, while they also take different paths till the very end. The closing scene with the newborn couple is very cute and, with a certain logic, it comes full circle with the answers every viewer longed for: Chip doesn't go back to his mother, he choose love over fear, he choose ambition over ordinary, he choose to build his future and give his career a chance - he, genuinely, choose to stay. A movie that, with its simplicity, we can objectively define lovely!