DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA

US, 2001, 123 minutes, Colour.
Daryl Hannah, Sheila Kelley, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Tilley, Charlotte Ayanna, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Elias Koteas, Robert Wisdom.
Directed by Michael Radford.

Dancing at the Blue Iguana sounds more exciting than the film actually is. It is the work of British director Michael Radford working in Hollywood. He had made such films as White Mischief in Kenya and The Postman in Italy, even getting Oscar nominations for the latter film. However, this time he has gone to the United States and working with a group of actors in a four-months improvisation seminar, has produced a script which still seems the work of a seminar rather than a revised screenplay which is worth producing and filming.

Radford certainly has a top cast, amongst whom are Daryl Hannah, Elias Koteas, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Tilley. The central focus is the club, The Blue Iguana, a stripjoint, and the five dancers who work there. One of the problems with the dancers is that they represent all the aspects that might be expected of such woman, drug addict, alcoholic, self-destructive women, victim of incest, immature women. One, Sandra Oh, is also a closet poet and goes to poetry readings and impresses the audience with the quality of her work. This is probably the most forceful of the characterisations. Those who run the club are also what we might expect, tough and unscrupulous, the doe-eyed young admirer, and, perhaps inexplicably, a Russian hitman.

The film was also made in experimental style, which makes it something of a strain to watch, let alone listen to and observe the characters. It is prolonged in its presentation where some prudent editing would have sharpened the performances as well as the interactions.

While watching the film, one is interested in the characters and what they are going to reveal about themselves. However, it ultimately does not amount to much more than one would have expected. The stand-out performance is by Jennifer Tilley, an actress who is eccentric in her style and has an often irritating baby voice. This time she is given the opportunity to develop a character and make an impression.

1. The title? The Blue Iguana? The striptease joint? And the portrait of the women? The manager?

2. The women, the range, dancing and striptease?

3. The title, the location, the interiors and exteriors? The performances? The girls, nudity, music and dance, pole dancing? The response of the variety of clients? The musical score?

4. The director, Michael Radford, his background, career, the varieties of films made? His work with the cast, weeks of improvisation and their creating their characters? Creating the dialogue?

5. Eddie, the manager, type, the organisation? Interactions with each of the girls? The young man? the Russians?

6. The world of showgirls, public life, performance? Behind-the-scenes? Characters?

7. Stormy, young, a secret, her relationship with her brother?

8. Jo, pregnancy, possibility for abortion?

9. Jesse, Hollywood ambitions?

10. Angel, her name, naive, her arrest?

11. Nico, the professional dancer, in comparison with the others?

12. Jasmine, poet, the quality of her poems, her relationship with Dennis, attending the readings, her hopes, publication? His visit to the club? Seeing the reality of Jasmine’s work, his repulsion, leaving?

13. The cross-section of women, their lives, their problems? A sad portrait?