"Dancing at the Blue Iguana" tries to offer the viewer a realistic take on the world of lap dancing, and thanks to a valuable DVD release you can appreciate just what everyone involved was trying to achieve.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture While the budget was low, the image quality of the film isn't overly gritty, and the picture on the DVD is strong and clear.

Sound The 5.1 mix comes packaged with good bass support, but some of the rear surround tracks are somewhat unrealistic and include misplaced sounds. It's not a major problem, and turning the rears down a bit should sort it out fine.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary One Director Michael Radford goes solo for track one, but he's rarely lost for anything to say. This commentary is most likely to appeal to anyone who enjoys improvisation.

Radford spent a lot of time work-shopping the rehearsals in order to put together a script, which was then re-improvised during the shoot. If you're not a fan of what are essentially theatrical techniques, this track probably won't appeal, but the root inspiration for many scenes and the development of the acting talent as a result will be interesting to closet thespians.

Audio Commentary Two Actors Sandra Oh, Sheila Kelley, and Robert Wisdom, make up this group commentary, which is less informative than Radford's track, but also somewhat lighter in tone. The movie was born from a script that Sheila wrote ten years ago, and so she has some valuable input into dissecting the themes of the project.

Strip Notes A lot of research went into making the movie and Daryl Hannah ended-up shooting a fascinating hour-long making of documentary that serves two purposes. Firstly, it backs up elements of the movie that may otherwise seem unreal due to the lifestyle these dancers lead. Secondly, it sometimes makes the movie look somewhat pretentious. While this may not seem ideal, it does expose the filmmakers' honest aims who didn't want to simply serve-up clichés.

Daryl certainly isn't afraid of going for explicit shots, but any titillation is soon weighed down by the problems these lapdancers face. One of them is desperate to earn money, but too out of it to be of use to anyone, while another faces up to bereavement but has to turn to the sleazy and ruthless owner of the club for comfort.

Alternate Takes and Deleted Scenes There are eight scenes in this section, which are of interest if only to see the varied results that come from the improvisation process.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Region: 2
Chapters: 24
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: None
Captions: None
Menus: Static
Special Features Subtitles: None of the special features come with subtitles.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.