Twist (Ron Mann, 1992)

Twist (Ron Mann, 1992)
Rating: 4.5

This is another documentary from award winning filmmaker Ron Mann. ("Grass") It explores the evolution of dancing from the conservative ballroom style to the freestyle form that took place in the early 60s and the years leading up to it. As the title suggests, much of the film focuses on the phenomenon the song "The Twist", originally written and peformed by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and then covered and popularized by Chubby Checker, created. As I was watching the stock footage of young teenagers dancing I thought to myself why make a documentary about such a frivolous topic, but soon I found the film raising some profound points. The interviews with former American Bandstand dancers, and performers such as Hank Ballard, Chubby Checker, Joey Dee, and others revealed a lot about mainstream trends and American pop culture in general. Topics such as the plagarism of African American dances and music, the ridiculousness of companies trying to market anything and everything involving the word "twist" as well as other absurd dances similar in nature, and the free spirited individualism that began to evolve during this period. The problem I found with this film was it only briefly touches on the more meaningful subjects, while being more concerned with repetitive footage of different trendy dances.