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Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely the worst movie.

A Masterpiece!

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

A doc that reunites the male dancers from Madonna's 'Blonde Ambition' tour where they reflect on their lives & aspirations 25 years on. A great premise let down by shoddy story construction, this account still delights just by the sheer will & perseverance of the dancers' willingness to continue trying to lead good lives in light of the bad choices that have befallen them.

Madonna, like all good pop culture icons, was all things to all people. By the early nineties she, or her managers, saw that this could be consolidated by her seeming to embrace and become an avant garden patron saint of the LGBTQ+ community of the time. Madonna was seen on TV wheeling out Sandra Bernhardt as her girlfriend - she was in fact seeing Warren Beatty. She made a mainstream hit of 'Vogue', just a dance craze song in the old tradition but culled from underground gay and drag culture. Vogue and the Blonde Ambition tour it was part of, required young male dancers from the dance subculture it exploited. Madonna handpicked dancers and soon became the mother hen of an elite inner circle of the mainly gay men. 'Strike A Pose' catches up with the surviving members of Madonna's male dance troupe and discovers some whose lives were changed by it, some for the better, some now worse off. Archive footage shores up the stridently powerful woman we recall of Vogue era Madonna as a naive and superficial "issues" hound who used - or was advised to - the LGBTQ+ community to expand her market to the "pink dollar". However Madonna actually, personally cared. Through interview, segments of expressive dance and more than honest reminiscences. A startling and heartfelt deconstruction of those on the fringes of fame and a true interrogation of the sincerity of commercial pop art.

Lots of crying. Documentary-makers love it. Almost everybody in the movie gets to cry. Coming out of the closet and AIDS, AIDS, AIDS. No, it is not "powerful." It is stagey and manipulative. The individual stories are familiar. The only difference is Madonna. Like the gay Waiting for Godot. Everybody talks about Madonna, but she's not there. "We were like a family" is the motif. I doubt that the dancers were really that naive. They were Madonna's employees. Did they really think that they were going to be pals with her once the tour was over? There is a shot of a mother watching a video of her dead son. There is a discussion of Bell's palsy. There is an awkward reunion dinner apparently staged for this film. It's as if the dancers know what is expected. Lots of hugging and more crying. Declarations of undying love and friendship. A cringe-inducing replay of truth or dare. Everyone aware of the cameras. It seems self- conscious. What do you do with your life if it peaks when you're 22? To be cast out of MDNA paradise. There are vague images of the dancers in what may be their present careers. One of them is a waiter, but it is implied that they are still in dance. No specifics are given. The idea is to leave on an upbeat note.

Having just watched the UK premiere at Sheffield Doc fest last night I have to say that this film is an heartwarming, intense, emotional and hugely satisfying journey going all the way back to Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition tour to the present day documenting the seven backing dancers who worked with Madonna on her extremely popular worldwide tour. Be in no doubt this film does show bits and pieces of the 1990 tour (with Madonna's permission on music rights too) this film is not about Madonna but about her loyal and extremely talented dancers and the aftermath of the tour bringing us up to the present time dealing with their deeply personal issues that each dancer has gone through. Its an emotionally heartwarming film and one not to be missed, if you get the chance to watch it then don't hesitate- just go see it with your eyes open and you'll be rewarded.