Inside John Malkovich

The Dancer Upstairs

Director: John Malkovich

Cast: Javier Bardem, Laura Morante, Juan Diego Botto, Oliver Cotton, Elvira Minguez

Cert: 15PG.

That most individual of actors, Malkovich, turns to directing with this powerful drama.

It is set in a South American country where Bardem plays a former lawyer-turned-detective on the trail of a terrorist leader. He has to fight not only the guerrillas but the general corruption all around him ... moral problems abound.

Malkovich grasps all this - it is adapted from his own novel by Nicholas Shakespeare - and turns it into a deeply thoughtful film that is full of brooding menace and impending doom. It is, too, an obviously well-timed film, given the current state of our uncertain world. And all of this is embraced by Malkovich.

The film is riven with morality set against moral decline and it's a film that will send you home with plenty to discuss over the hot chocolate. A minor classic and a terrific effort all round.

Star Rating: 4/5.