She Dances | Film Review

 

A distant father and daughter (Steve Zahn and Audrey Clair Zahn) are forced to reconnect when he chaperones a dance competition.

I watched the trailer for this film and immediately wanted to watch it. It seemed like it would be really sweet but also potentially quite powerful, so I was looking forward to it.

And that's kind of what it was; a sweet, powerful story that I enjoyed watching.

The filmmakers came up with a really interesting, original way of showing the parallels in the characters' lives, and it allows the audience to build connections with the father and daughter simultaneously.

And the whole way through, the film makes such good use out of a split screen and really uses this method to give us much more of an insight into the characters than we would have had otherwise.

All the characters have such fun dynamics. It's really nice seeing them interact.

The casting is great. The fact that the characters are actually father and daughter adds a beautiful layer to the story, but in general Steve Zahn excels in the role. It was particularly nice to see him play a character like this having only really known him from comedic roles (outside of one great horror movie).

The best thing about the film is the characters and their dialogue. The audience really gets a lot out of hearing these people speak to each other.

I loved that, buried within the story is a really beautiful, subtle exploration of grief.

The dance scenes were great, but they were a lot less interesting than just watching two people have a conversation, which says a lot about how good the writing is.

There were some great, emotionally charged moments mixed with powerful conversations. And while this wasn't as emotionally hard-hitting as I wanted it to be, it was definitely powerful.

So overall, I'd definitely recommend this film. There are some really beautiful moments and it feels more original than similarly-themed movies.

7/10