CS Film Club II

I didn't really know what to expect going into this movie.  I knew it had a frantic energy, was about broadway performers of some sort, and starred the guy from Seaquest.  I didn't realize that its mostly about death.  Roy Schneider is very much the center of this film, and the movie cuts back and forth between preparing a new dance production and his character Joey in some sort of limbo state with a guardian angel.  During the limbo scenes, we get to learn his history through surrealist flashbacks and self-narration.  As a structure it works well while adding a bit of flare and originality.

I would say I mostly liked the movie.  Schneider is really good in it and the pacing works, at least up until a point.  About halfway through the movie Joey finds out about a health issue, and this takes over the entire back half of the film.  From that point on we basically spend the rest of it in his near-death visions made up by a lot of song and dance numbers.  I liked this idea in theory, but this is also where the film started to lose me.

To be honest, I think this section was just too long.  Maybe its just because I've been so conditioned by other films, but it feels like this should be approaching the climax of the movie, but it just keeps going and going.  And to be honest, I felt like most of the dance numbers while he's in his deathbed started to get repetitive with their message.  I also found the morbidity of this section bothersome in a way I can't quite put my finger on. 

So the movie mostly had me, and I liked a good chunk of it.  But I was also relieved when it finished.

6/10