Plot, facial expression

["Karen L. Newcombe" <kln@crl.com>]

Hey now . . . having seen TLTCTC a total of three times now I can say 
there is definitely a plot, and Kate does not look bored, she does have 
facial expression.  It is somewhat more subtle that one is used to seeing 
on film, and compared to the exagerrated facial expressions of 
Richardson's character may seem un-expressive.  

But on the third pass I watched carefully and I have to say that this 
movie is subtle, beautiful to watch, and I will outline the plot for you:

Band practicing.  Main singer having a little trouble with the dance 
moves.  She leans against mirror and wishes she could really dance.  
Rumble of ominous forboding.  Lights go out.  Band takes a break.  Singer 
stays in studio, thinking about how things used to be, how she's not 
young anymore.  She finds a bird in the studio, holds it for a moment, 
sets it free, but it smashes into a window and falls to the floor.  She 
lays it on a piece of fabric, kisses it goodbye.

Just then a strange woman in a theatre costume smashes through the mirror 
with a strange story about a fire, falling off the stage, running away, 
burning her hands.  She needs help getting home, and the singer obliges 
her by drawing three signs on slips of paper.  The dancer convinces her 
to take her red dancing shoes in trade for her help.  But as the shoes go 
onto her feet undertheir own power, the singer realizes something is 
wrong.  The dancer takes her slips of paper, her path, her heart and her 
smile, and runs back through the mirror with them.

A figure appears and beckons her into the mirror.  She tries to resist, 
but the shoes take her through: she bursts across in a theatre costume 
similar tothe dancers'.  She and the figure of the maestro dance through 
hell -- she begs him to remove the shoes, but the shoes get angry with 
her and start kicking her about the face and shoulders.  

The maestro takes her to Lily, a woman of power who teaches her to summon 
the guardians of the four directions - the angels - to aid her.  Lily 
also prays to the One Above to lead the singer in the true path.  As the 
singer summons the angels they swarm about her, guiding her to walk 
forward.  Michael draws a line in the snow with his sword -- she has 
called her path back to her.

The singer then tells us how the shoes carry her through all the cities of 
the world, dancing everywhere -- and it all seems so familiar -- but she 
isn't really there.  She remembers falling into the orchestra pit from 
the stage, but it never happened to her - and how these shoes are filled 
with rage.  She concludes she does not have the strength to go on.

The Maestro appears and tells her to call upon those she loves.  As the 
shoes carry her above the roofs of the cities, she remembers all 
those who loved her and helped her.  One by one, as she flies into the 
storm of time they come forward to greet her.  Everyone she has lost has 
come back to her for a moment.

As she falls through the storm a great X appears in the icy ground.  The 
shoes cannot keep her aloft any longer -- the memories of her loved ones 
has given her power back over her own heart.  She crashes to the ground, 
unconscious.

The Maestro calls to her through the snowstorm, but when the singer hears 
him and awakens, she can't make out his words for the roaring of the wind.
A vicious chuckle behind her signals the presence of the dancer, who 
informs her that the Maestro is trying to tell her to sing for her 
smile.  The two argue -- much like two parts of the same person will 
argue.  

A chase ensues: the dancer runs off with the slips of paper and taunts 
the singer to get them if she can.  They run through the snow of winter, 
through the fallen leaves of autumn, into the fruits of summer -- and as 
they race ahead the singer begins to smile and gain on the dancer, whose 
arm grows heavier and heavier from holding the line, the cross, the curve 
that are not hers.

As the two burst into the full fruit of summer, dancers fill the room 
holding up replicas of the smile on the slip of paper.  These dancers 
surround the singer and sing and dance for her smile.  They all fall into 
a trance of ecstacy and collapse -- and the curse is broken.  The 
singer's smile flies back to her, pulling the heart and the path with 
it.  As the slips of paper curl into her hand, the shoes vanish from her 
feet and reappear on the dancer's feet.

The dancer snarls and attacks the singer, while the Maestro exhorts her 
from the background to run back through the mirror while she can.  If she 
loses this battle she will not be able to return.  In a burst of strenth 
the singer throws off the dancer who smashes into the mirror -- water 
streams down it, and it bursts into the studio carrying fruit and the 
singer -- no longer in her somber black but arrayed in the dress of fruit 
and life -- reborn through the glass wall.

As she turns and watches, the ceiling collapses onto the dancer, burying 
her.  But the shoes rise up through the rubble, whirring and kicking . . .


So - a quick summary.  I think when everyone gets a chance to see this 
film more we'll all see that the facial expressions are subtle, not 
absent; and that a plot does in deed tie the whole thing together -- not 
just provide an excuse to slap some videos together.

Karen L. Newcombe
kln@crl.com