Dancing at the Blue Iguana

OK, so Dancing at the Blue Iguana features wall-to-wall naked gyrating women. But don't let that put you off. Despite the subject matter - the lives of five strippers who work in the eponymous club (played by Daryl Hannah, Jennifer Tilly, Sheila Kelley, Charlotte Ayanna and Sandra Oh) - and the frequent nudity, Blue Iguana is not a T&A movie. Rather, it's a compelling insight into the lives of the underclass of Los Angeles, or indeed, any one of the world's major cities.If your cinematic tastes run to tightly plotted fare where all the loose ends are tied up with a big gift-wrap bow in the last five minutes, you'll probably it find frustrating. But if you can appreciate a film in which some issues are never quite resolved and some questions are never quite answered - just like real life - then you may be seduced by the Blue Iguana.The film has been panned by so many critics that I must admit I started watching the DVD with some trepidation, expecting to be embarrassed for the actors. But I became so engrossed in the world of the Blue Iguana that I was actually disappointed when the film ended.The DVD is very professionally produced. Features include a commentary from director Michael Radford; a second commentary from stars Sheila Kelley, Sandra Oh and Robert Wisdom (who plays the Blue Iguana boss Eddie); Strip Notes, a documentary by Daryl Hannah on how she researched her character in the LA strip club Crazy Girls; and some deleted takes and alternative scenes.Much of the criticism of Blue Iguana is based on the fact that it was made without a script. The actors started with only two things: the title of the film and the fact that it was set in a strip club. Everything else, they worked out themselves - their characters, their storylines, and their dialogue - in an intense series of improvisational workshops. This approach may be unconventional, but it gives Blue Iguana a freshness and immediacy which is rarely found in mainstream films. As Michael Radford explains in the director's commentary, improv relies on nailing the scene in the first take; once it becomes too polished, it loses its sense of realism.The female cast has been another target for critics - not because they're not superb actors, but because, in their late 30's to early 40s, Daryl Hannah, Jennifer Tilly and Sheila Kelley would be too old to work as strippers in LA where beautiful young women exist in a buyer's market. But they bring a depth of sadness to their characters - you can't help wondering where they'll be a few years down the track.Sandra Oh's performance as Jasmine is a standout. Jasmine leads a double life, stripping on the Blue Iguana stage and secretly writing poetry in the dressing room. After persuading her to read one of her painfully beautiful works at his poetry group Dennis (Chris Hogan) starts to fall in love with her mind. But Jasmine realises the fledgling romance is doomed. In the film's most heartbreaking scene, when Dennis seeks her out at the club, she performs her routine to Moby's "Porcelain" with its haunting refrain "So This is Goodbye". The camera focuses on her face. It's an impassive mask, but her eyes betray incredible sadness. She's wordlessly saying to him, "This is the real me. Do you still want me now?"Putting aside its improv-based development, Blue Iguana succeeds on its own merits. If you want to see a T&A film, rent a copy of Showgirls. If you want to see a haunting, thought-provoking slice of life, get hold of the DVD of Dancing at the Blue Iguana.

The movie was OK. The plot was a little lame, but what can you do with a bunch of emotionally distraught strippers, other than a horror flick. Beware that there is ample gratuitous nudity to go around (it is a movie about strippers set largely at a strip club. I bought the movie because I had heard about how Darryl Hannah and the other actresses had worked so hard to learn how to perform exotic dances and was curious to see how accurate this information was. I have always thought Darryl Hannah has portrayed some very sexy women in quite a few of her previous roles. In this one she plays an extraordinarily dumb blonde, and she does that quite well, but her dancing wasn't anything special. She definitely had been working out as evidenced by virually no body fat to be seen anywhere. This made her look too anorexic. Jennifer Tilley usually plays the dumb role, but in "Dancing" she played the self centered "[...]", and she over acted. Shiela Kelley and Sandra Oh provided reasonable performances and their dancing looked more professional than Darryl Hannah's or Jennifer Tilley's dancing. If you want to actually see quality exotic dancing (of which the name implies)performed by a woman with the stereotypical female physique, then you have to rely on Charlotte Ayanna and the brief appearance of Kristin Bauer. Charlotte plays a young woman of relative intelligence(of who's age is questioned when she auditions for the job at the Blue Iguanna to ensure that she is of age) and is somewhat naive due to her youth. She connects up with and then later gets physically abused by a friend (regular customer) of Darryl Hannahs. Everything said, Charlotte's acting was ok, but let's face it, she has a voluptuous body and knows how to use it. Kristin Bauer is hired to dance at the Blue Iguana late in the movie, because one of the dancer's gets killed and one gets fired. This was probably the best decision made by the casting director. Kristin plays a seasoned dancer and when she first shows up on screen, you think she has a snobbish, stuck-up attitude with the the other regular dancers. A little later you discover that she has a serious drug problem when Darryl walks in on her shooting up heroin between her toes. At that point, you realize that she was very stoned when she first appeared. In her brief, appearance she proves to be friendly and the best thing is that she has a killer body and dances like she made a living stripping before she started acting. The price of the movie was worth seeing her dance.Finally, if you would like to see Kristin Bauer and Charlotte Ayanna, two very sexy beautiful women, strip, this is the movie for you. Otherwise, I would wait until I was bored and maybe spend the 90 minutes or so killin time watching this movie.

This film is unusual because the actors had to come up with their own characters and improvise as they went along. The film was shot at a real exotic dance venue, hence the name of the Blue Iguana. The film deals with issues that may affect anyone trying to make their way in the world, abusive boyfriends, pregnancy (not a good idea for a poledancer) another one wanting to start a family and another trying a different career path. The film tries to portray the people doing a job just to survive and despite the subject matter there is little titilation to the proceedings. For some reason there is a sub-plot about a Russian hit-man which seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the film.The actresses did their own dancing so all credit to them although with the camera sometimes doing the body-double trick of showing just the bodies without the faces or the faces covered by tossing hair or the dancers filmed from the back one does wonder sometimes. This is not a great film but it is not a bad one either and the unusual method in its making is a fair reason for giving it a viewing.

....by all the actors involved. It smells real, feels real, sounds real, looks real. So well made you think it coud be a proper documentary.This is everything 'Showgirls' wishes it was and everything 'Strippers' isn't.A top film. Commendable. Recommendable.My only disappointment is the highy regarded 'the making of....' doco isn't included - which begs the question: 'Why not?'

After watching Killing Eve starring Sandra I though it may be worth sampling another of her films - it was. This is a great movie and worth watching if it ever pops up on TV.

I came accross this film by reading a listmania, and selected it because of the talented cast - Sandra Oh(Greys Anatomy), Jennifer Tilly (Bullets Over Broadway;Bound)& Daryl Hannah(Splash; All the Presidents Women) to name just 3, this film blew me away by the powerful performancesa of ALL the cast, including extras, some of who were actual lapdanders/strippers, they had been cooperative with the cast in creating this movie 70% of which is set within a strip club - The Blue Iguana, although there are lengthy explicit scenes and continuous stripping/dancing throughout the film, one becomes so engrossed in the characters following the twists and turns of their lives, one becomes oblivious to seeing the nudity, instead held captivated with the charisma that builds up.It is an improvisational workshop indie film, which means that the actors are given only the genre of the film and where it will take place, the rest is up to them to create, there is no script, they speak as though they have become the characters they are portraying.It is a beautifully crafted film with flawless performances and sharp editing. The soundtrack is fantastic, suiting the mood exactly.This is an infinitely re-watchable film as it is so multi layered, and with the dvd you get bonus features such as the voice over through the film by both the director and producers, plus a fascinating hour long documentary made by Daryl Hannah about how she entered the world of women who live this way and how they became close, contributing greatly to the authenticity in making the film, they befriended her, opening up this world they live in and inspiring the characters that complete the film.I would highly recommend this film, it is not gratuitous and does not exploit the pole dancing aspect, instead it follows through and delivers a masterpiece that is insightful and quite gripping, right from the start to the very end.

Excellent film that shows the dancers as being more than just the bodies they display . Dont see so much pole dancing from the actresses , they tend to pout and crawl across the floor . In particular I loved the Jennifer Tilly character . This is however more of a good story than an afternoon titilation .