Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
The Nutcracker (1993)
Director: Emile Ardolino
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This version of an American stage production will do little to thrill most movie buffs. Though handsomely filmed and drenched with colours as saturated as wet paint, it has just three indoor locales and no exteriors. It's true market is as a festive TV event or a video where connoisseurs can play favourite bits over and over (the stupendously confident Kyra Nichols leading 'The Waltz of the Flowers') while fast forwarding through much of the rest. One reason George Balanchine's original choreography of the ballet is so special for Americans is that over the past 40 years it has become an annual New York tradition. Many of the participants, including director Ardolino, are graduates of the long-running TV series 'Dance in America'. They opted for as little gimmickry as possible, though they did add a voice-over (by Kevin Kline). The use of Macaulay Culkin isn't actually a gimmick - he was in the stage version in 1989 and '90, and his father did the same in the '50s, when he was paired with Bonnie Bedelia.Author: AR
Cast & crew
Director: Emile Ardolino
Producer: Robert A Krasnow, Robert Hurwitz
Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Bart Robinson Cook, Jessica Lynn Cohen, Darci Kistler, Damian Woetzel, Kyra Nichols, Wendy Whelan, the Company of the New York City Ballet full cast
Duration: 85 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now