Set in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, Dancehall Queen is a hugely enjoyable melodrama featuring a resourceful heroine, spectacularly slimy villains and a lot of very loud music. Street vendor Marcia (Audrey Reid) is under pressure from all directions--family friend Larry has made her dependent on his good will before putting sexual pressure on her teenage daughter while street thug Priest has killed a friend for minding her patch and is now trying to push his way into her bed. What is attractive about this film is that Marcia wins by playing to her strengths: she... goes back to the wild-child dirty dancing she loved before having her children and becomes Mystery Lady, a contender for cash prizes in competition. Most of the film's occasional touches of wild comedy come from her attempts to keep this from her rather staid daughter and the ease with which, from behind silver foil fringes and jewelled nose-chains, she can take revenge on the men who mess with her quieter persona. This is a surprisingly classy little movie, whose rawness comes across as urgency: e en those of us who miss half the patois dialogue can't help but respond to its fizzy energy. On the DVD The DVD has digitally re-mastered music, the usual chapter index, a Web link and what is called "Hyperactive DVDROM" content which means it is very, very flashy and very, very loud. --Roz Kaveney [show more]
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