Customer Reviews

Flamenco Women [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I had such high hopes for this video. I was attending classes at the Amor de Dios studio in Madrid when this video was made in 1997 and was excited to see how it turned out. Unfortunately, most of the film is a complete misrepresentation of flamenco by someone who does not have a clue about it. The end performance is about as far from real flamenco as you can get. Yes, the performers are well known and excellent dancers in their own right. But please, I wanted to gag when I saw the "fashionable" outfits (marketing ploy for designers "Vacas Flacas") and the many Spanish celebs Figgis got to stand in the audience (right in the front, of course). Flamenco is not about celebrities or fancy costumes. I think the film would have been a lot more interesting had it shown more of the classroom footage. There's a lot more magic happening there with women dancing in old leotards than there is in the whole performance which is supposed to be the point of this film. If you want to see some real "Flamenco Women" check out the Carlos Saura film instead!

Sara Baras and Eva La Yerbabuena ostensibly rehearse for a performance, with some outtakes of studio work at Amor de Dios. We see snippets of alegrias, bulerias and tangos with some nice footwork but no development, not a single complete dance and the artistry of the "Flamenco Women" is wholly smothered by the ineptitude of the filmmakers. It makes you realize what talent Carlos Saura has.

Michael Figgis doesn't have a clue about flamenco, as he proves with this idiotic documentary film. It is a murky film shot in grainy black and white, a jumble of 5-10 second snippets--mostly isolation shots of dancers' feet. This reduces flamenco to nothing more than flashy footwork. The viewer is left with no sense of the use of the arms (very important for female dancers), the choreography nor the interplay of dancers with the singer and guitarists. All we are left with is a confused jumble of very noisy and disjointed footwork. For a real look at flamenco, watch Saura's "Flamenco."

In the movie, Flamenco Women, if you don't absolutely love the art of dancing and flamenco, it is not worth it. Although it would be an excellent documentary, it does nothing for aspiring dancers, or viewers who want to learn more about flamenco.

Mike figgis paints a very distant and muffled picture of the true meaning of flamenco, with bad camera angles at times focasing in on facial expressions instead of full body shots which would capture both hand and foot coordination, not to mention the sound was distorted as well.
I was truely hoping to get more insight and more inspiration from this film.
Eva La Yerbabuena is by far my favorite flamenco dancer and this film showed only an ounce of what she is truely capable of. Though I did enjoy the dance rehearsals, it did nothing for me.
The performance at the end was not what I expected, being that many of the rehearsals were really good. I really didnt appreciate and was actually a little offended by the fashionable cotumes and dark make up. Flamenco is a tradional spanish dance that deserves to have its integrity kept in place. It does not change with time. The point I am trying to make is other then the dance itself one of the most important aspects of flamenco is how feminine and classic the women look as they dance.
A VERY important part of preserving the integrity of the dance.
yada yada yada!

This video? A disappointment to say the least. I will have to check out the video everyone has suggested.

An addendum:
Eva La Yerbabuena is featured in an IMAX film intitled "Pulse", her foot work is spectacular and well worth the $8.50 theater ticket. I suggest going to see that, if you are looking for inspiration.

I think that the documentary was great. It showed the strength and ability of "flamenco" women to create, and accomplish. I think, the footwork and playing with the rythm are the most fascinating aspects of flamenco(that's my opinion), though not the only ones... I don't see anything wrong with presenting only a number of those fascinating aspects in a documentary. Moreover, eliminating the other ones, allows the viewer to concentrate on specific structures, rather than to have some minimum of basic information by watching a little bit of everything in one documentary. The director of "flamenco women" never says that the only thing about flamenco is the feet, so let's not LOOK FOR something bad. after all, I think that we do need documentary like Saura's one as much as we need the one by Figgis.

Thanks, Aleksey Rubio

I have read with disappointment some customer reviews on Mike Figgis' documentary, Flamenco Women. If you want a full bulerias, get a step by step dancing video. If you want to see flamenco in the "original", get in a time machine and go back a few hundred years. If you want to see a full dance just the way you think it should be - watch yourself in the mirror. In this documentary, we see two artistic viewpoints - one from the women that came together for the performance, and the other by Figgis. Flamenco a living art - it's supposed to change. Get it!! For what it is worth, in Australia we don't get a lot of flamenco performances, so I look for whatever I can get as well as having danced myself for many years - this documentary is one of the best I have seen - give it a go I say!

For aficionados of Flamenco dance this is the ultimate film. No amateurs
here, only superb masters of the art. Both in the practice shown and the
final spectacle, we see these dancers at their best. It is a film that
will be viewed over and over by those who are dazzled by these artists~

OK so the sound was not "all that," but the overall concept is conveyed, 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration. Figgis depicts the various aspects of practice and study very well. I would have liked to see more of the final performance, but I do not need to see the end product to understand the pre-performance work, which Mr. Figgis had captured throughout. I have been and continue to be extremely fortunate in my musical performance life. I have been to 100's of concerts and met many influencial Flamenco performers, and I found relief in the fact that FLAMENCO WOMEN shows a side of preperation that is not often seen, if at all. It would have been nice to see more dancing from Yerbabuena & Baras, however, I did receive a short guitar passage from an "Alegrias" that Sara Baras conveyed to the musicians. Very cool!

This is a wonderful vision of the director, which I don't feel must be a full out flamenco concert. It reveals the beauty, technique, and style of the nuevo flamenco female artists, who are at the top of their form. The film is a must for flamenco dancers, who really get to see how a dance and a concert develops in this film. Give it a try! I think Mike Figgis creates a very stylish film. ...