Sometimes movies are all about managing expectations. A trip to see StreetDance, based on a belief in the ethereal cinema of quality, from Fellini to Godard to Coppola and Scorsese, will be sorely disappointing.
However, rooted in context and genre, as a "let's put on a show" musical that goes right back to Judy Garland's MGM heyday (see Babes in Arms and Strike up the Band), StreetDance becomes at worst, ineffably satisfying, and at best, crassly magnificent.
Though set entirely in a pristine sun-baked London, more Beverly Boulevard than Bethnal Green, the narrative set-up will be achingly familiar to connoisseurs of the recent Step Up and Stomp dance movie franchises.
Here a plucky young dancer called Carly (Nichola Burley) must lead her rag-tag team of eccentric body-poppers to the finals of the UK Street Dance Championships. Unfortunately, there's just one catch - along the way she must share rehearsal space, befriend and eventually collaborate with a bunch of, gasp, snooty ballet students, led by the supercilious yet muscle-bound Tomas (Richard Winsor).
Thus the movie, which is directed by pop promo veterans Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini, asks, will Carly and her friends win the championships? Will she fall in love, against her better instincts, with Tomas? And will she be involved in just over 25 musical montages that will propel the film seamlessly through corny line-readings and join-the-dots plotting to a place of giddy foot-tapping coherence? As Carly would say: "Like, you have to ask?!"
The real kick, nonetheless, in StreetDance is in the incidentals.
In the 3D version, which is making its way around the globe, and which has so far proven a box office smash in the UK, the visuals have been handled with a certain stylish elan.
It understands, like Avatar before it, the new formal phase of 3D development and it tries hard not to throw objects at the camera lens (and thus into the auditorium).
Instead it uses 3D mostly for depth of field, often returning repeatedly to breathtaking aerial shots of early morning London, orange-lit, hazy, and with a horizontal axis that seems to recede into infinity.
Elsewhere, when Carly attends a Royal Ballet production of Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet, in a truly bravura sequence, the ballet itself is depicting hanging just in front of Carly's face, out in front of the screen, on an entirely different focal plane, while Carly watches the action agog.
This might just be the first genuinely experimental and artistic use of 3D in the modern revolution so far.
It is, though, the dance sequences that define the movie, and they are delivered with a relentless intensity that's always fresh, never repetitive.
Even when they don't quite ignite (as in a contrived face-off between the ballet and the street dancers) these sequences are never dull. And when they do catch fire, as in the second act climax - a multi-strand montage to Ironik's Tiny Dancer remix - they're positively incandescent.
It may not be intellectually stimulating, but StreetDance will move you. Literally.
Understand What Black Is
The Last Poets
(Studio Rockers)
More from our neighbourhood series:
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMaly%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mo%20Ibrahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%20International%20Financial%20Centre%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.6%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2015%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%2C%20planning%20first%20seed%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GCC-based%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE WARRIORS RESULTS
Featherweight
Azouz Anwar (EGY) beat Marcelo Pontes (BRA)
TKO round 2
Catchweight 90kg
Moustafa Rashid Nada (KSA) beat Imad Al Howayeck (LEB)
Split points decision
Welterweight
Gimbat Ismailov (RUS) beat Mohammed Al Khatib (JOR)
TKO round 1
Flyweight (women)
Lucie Bertaud (FRA) beat Kelig Pinson (BEL)
Unanimous points decision
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) beat Regelo Enumerables Jr (PHI)
TKO round 1
Catchweight 100kg
Marc Vleiger (NED) beat Mohamed Ali (EGY)
Rear neck choke round 1
Featherweight
James Bishop (NZ) beat Mark Valerio (PHI)
TKO round 2
Welterweight
Abdelghani Saber (EGY) beat Gerson Carvalho (BRA)
TKO round 1
Middleweight
Bakhtiyar Abbasov (AZE) beat Igor Litoshik (BLR)
Unanimous points decision
Bantamweight
Fabio Mello (BRA) beat Mark Alcoba (PHI)
Unanimous points decision
Welterweight
Ahmed Labban (LEB) v Magomedsultan Magomedsultanov (RUS)
TKO round 1
Bantamweight
Trent Girdham (AUS) beat Jayson Margallo (PHI)
TKO round 3
Lightweight
Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) beat Roman Golovinov (UKR)
TKO round 1
Middleweight
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Steve Kennedy (AUS)
Submission round 2
Lightweight
Dan Moret (USA) v Anton Kuivanen (FIN)
TKO round 2