If you want to see how the pretentious art drama trapped in the body of conventional crime thriller looks like, you might watch Slam Dance, 1987 film directed by Wayne Wang. The protagonist, played by Tom Hulce, is C.C. Drood, struggling Los Angeles cartoonist who has recently separated from his wife Helen (played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) but still dreams of returning to her and daughter Bean (played by Judith Barsi). He nevertheless lives something of a good life, thanks to his best friend Jim Campbell (played by Adam Ant), owner of a night club where he met Yolanda Caldwell (played by Virginia Madsen), beautiful and mysterious woman with whom he had brief and passionate affair. She is found murdered, while Drood become target of harassment by Buddy (played by Don Keith Opper), a goon convinced that Drood took possession of Yolanda’s artefacts that could create major political scandal. To make things even worse, LAPD detective Smiley (played by Harry Dean Stanton) considers Drood to be one of possible suspects, and that continues with additional murders.
For the Hong Kong-born director Wayne Wang Slam Dance represented an opportunity to broaden the scope of his filmography, until that time mostly associated with Chinese American characters and subjects. As such, this film features generic “noirish” plot and non-Chinese cast (with exception of Rosalind Chao appearing in small role of Bean’s kindergarten teacher). Slam Dance is nevertheless far from the conventional due to Wang’s style based on the cinematography by Amir M. Mokri, cinematographer best known for his works on MTV videos. Apart from cinematography, great deal of care was given to costumes and production design. However, stylishness of the film goes hand in hand with script by Don Keith Opper which tries very hard to make this film as unusual as possible. Character of the protagonist is not exactly Hitchockian “ordinary man in extraordinary situation”, but an eccentric whose behaviour isn’t always rational. Tom Hulce plays it in a way that makes Drood at times hard to sympathise with and the plot is related in rather confusing manner. Hulce’s style of acting is well-matched by Opper, who plays rather unusual (semi)villain; this is not the case with Mastrantonio or Stanton who play their roles in more conventional manner. Wang’s direction is often confusing and it seems that Wang pays much more attention to music, which plays important part in this film; some of prominent musician appear in the cast, like Adam Ant and John Doe (who plays mysterious LAPD detective Gilbert). One of the more notable members of the cast is dancer Lisa Niemi, best known as Patrick Swayze’s wife, whose appearance in the film is notable for being almost entirely in the nude. While this triumph of style over substance, so typical of 1980s cinema, is interesting for a while, the resolution of the mystery will ultimately disappoint most of the audience. Wang appeared to agree with this verdict, shared by most critics, and later tried to distance himself from Slam Dance, blaming its flaws on producers’ interference.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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