Amelia

First of all, it needs to be pointed out that the movie does not, repeat NOT, bear any relationship to the capsule description being displayed on the current pages. It's pretty clear that an error was made and that the user tried to review another movie.

What we do have, is superb modern dancing, sublimely filmed. Direction, choreography, dance, music, costumes, lighting, set - everything is a part of an organic and immersive whole. It's a "total work of art", as our German neighbors like to call it. Still, it would be wrong to think about the movie as something Wagnerian : the whole atmosphere, aesthetics included, is distinctly minimalist.

This kind of "less is more" attitude has spawned a number of egregiously boring performances, just as it has spawned a number of egregiously boring movies. In "Amelia", however, the minimalism turns into an artistic triumph. The main set, for instance, is an unremarkable space, as bland and neutral as a white canvas. As the work progresses the hugely intelligent lighting changes the room into a mother's womb, a tunnel leading into light, a tunnel leading into darkness, a tunnel leading into nothingness, a hall of mirrors, a prisoner's cell, a monk's cell, the inside of someone's mind, the inside of your own mind, a ballroom, a grave, an alien heaven, a lover's bed, a hole in the ground, a moving toy shop, a mystic vision, a shard of moonlight ; the room blinks in and out of existence, changes, morphs, flattens itself, becomes so large that you can't see it anymore. It's a master class in set design and lighting.

The austere charms of "Amelia" won't appeal to everyone : it's an alien, hermetic, almost secretive work of art. However, the patient and open-minded viewer is richly rewarded.