Name: The Cost of Living
Genre: Drama
Released: 2005-05-29
Duration: 35 min
Rating: 7.9
Cast: Jose Maria Alves, Gabriel Castillo, Robin Dingemans

Good performances but the film lacks narrative and point

In an English seaside town a group of physical performers and dancers tire of their roles and the way they are viewed by "normal" people. Two of the group in particular (an angry Scottish man and a disabled man) feel frustrated with their lot and walk off their show and into town. The Scottish man is very aggressive and talkative which brings him into conflict with some of his colleagues who just prefer their actions to do their talking.

I was interested by this film and wondering what it was going to do but I was quite disappointed when it didn't really go anywhere and instead turned out to be essentially filmed performance theatre. Not that I'm saying there is anything wrong with that, it is just that I had hoped for something more to justify the move from the stage to the screen. As it was though the film didn't have a plot to speak of but was rather a series of semi-dance routines with some dialogue scenes scattered in. To be fair to it, the film does used the camera well to produce shots that wouldn't work in front of a live theatre audience (by directing the viewer's gaze) and it does look pretty good but I just found it frustrating that it didn't seem to have much in the way of direction or meaning.

Fans of dance will like it, although not all of it would be classed as dance, some of it is closer to performance art, which for me is not always easy to get into. The performers are certainly talented and there are no bad performances either in the dialogue or in the movement but I did feel that the material was lacking a point. Overall though it looks really good and has enough physical performance value to be worth seeing if that's your thing  just don't expect it to have a narrative or a strong point to make because I don't think it did.

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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A disparate group of dancers, preferring to express themselves through dance rather than speech, clash with each other and members of the local community.

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The Cost of Living

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