#130 All That Jazz (1979)

***

Director: Bob Fosse
Cast: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer, Cliff Gorman, Irene Kane

Hm. This was interesting. Being a dancer for most of my life, I had a great number of expectations before watching this film. I was hunkering down for a 2 hour long musical full of really amazing choreography-- all centered around dance itself. A self-reflective, self-appreciative movie about the art of theatre and dance. Boy, was I wrong. Instead, it was very much a narcissistic autobiography of Bob Fosse-- not that this is all bad either-- just not what I sat down to watch.

I've heard these songs a million times at dance competitions, and I've seen all the dance moves mimicked about a million and a half times-- brought back some good memories. I enjoyed the first half of the film immensely. Note: why is it so fun to watch other people live recklessly? The second half of the film, however, was far too self-indulgent and far too disco. The final death scene with the 70s strobes put Josh and I over the edge, and we were practically begging for it to end.

As you can see by my extremely scatter-brained review of this film, I have no idea what to make of it. I'm torn between being dramatically disappointed and feeling like I've finally put the puzzle together on all the songs/choreography that is in my past. I gave it three stars because I feel like this film is a must-see for any dancer. I also think that if I were to see this film again, I would appreciate it more than I did the first time, and so on, so forth.