And Then We Danced (2019)
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And Then We Danced Movie Review
And Then We Danced is a 2019 Georgian film directed by Levan Akin and starring Levan Gelvakhiani and Bachi Valishvili. It’s a standard, but very well done film.
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“There is no sex in Georgian dance“
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It follows a relationship that develops between two male dancers in Tbilisi, Georgia. The movie was highly controversial when it premiered in its home country. It was so alarming in fact that the police had to guard the cinema entrances. Because of horrible homophobia in this country, the movie is thus highly important, and you can sense that dichotomy of traditional and modern dancing, macho and more effeminate forms of dancing in this film. That was very well explored, and it culminated in that powerful final dancing sequence which serves as the sort of coming out catharsis for the protagonist.
But the movie as a whole isn’t particularly original as I’ve seen such first gay love stories before, though here the emphasis is more on emotion than on coming out, which I appreciated. One of the film’s standouts is the protagonist, played so competently by Levan Gelvakhiani. Merab is the soul of the film, and the choice to portray his inner feelings, especially of happiness and feeling enamored, paid off as those wordless scenes are the best of the bunch.
I also liked his love interest, though their story ended in a rather typical manner. The other characters are archetypal, but serving their purpose. The performances are strong throughout. I just wished to have seen a bit more when it comes to their relationship as it only happens in the second half and not for much of the runtime.
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Some of their scenes are quite sweet, and the film captures that being in love feeling tremendously well. What And Then We Danced also does well is making you root for the protagonist, but some scenes felt unrealistic in the context of this country. The editing is also not all that great, and the directing could have been better, but the editing in particular is very poor as the movie frequently cuts from one moment to the next with no smoothness to the transition whatsoever.
And Then We Danced isn’t the most original story, but it’s important in the context of its country. It’s not well edited at all, but it’s uniformly well-acted, and the central character is the highlight, especially following his inner journey was powerful. The film is sweet and moving in those wordless scenes, which are easily the best ones, while the others suffered in comparison. The traditional/modern dance dichotomy is another highlight here.
