This film was especially interesting because it was fully produced by this University of Texas.  I attended the screening at the Paramount (above is the picture of outside the theater).It was the world premier and most of the key actors were present.  A significant portion of the crowd also had a hand in developing the film.  “Dance with the One” is set in Austin, which was the perfect backdrop for the first film produced completely by UT Austin.

I am not going to go deep into the plot because this is a movie that everyone should see and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone.  The premise is that a young adult who grew up in Austin is a drug dealer to support his family.  He obtains the drugs from a close family friend who happens to also be the father of his girlfriend.  He is against using the drugs, it is just a means to support his worthless father and younger brother (their mother passed away before the time line of the script begins).  The primary conflict in the movie is that the main character takes on a job to watch a large quantity of drugs from his boss.  This “stash” goes missing under his watch and pretty much all action in the movie spawns from that.  This is as much as I am going to tell about the plot.

The significance of the title is that you have to play the hand you are dealt or “dance with the one you came with.”  The main character’s father says this to him at a key moment in the movie when emotions come to a head and he is ready to cut ties with his family because they are dragging him down.  There is no evidence of amateur acting or cut corners in this film I would not be at all surprised if it makes it to a theater near you.

What excited  me most about this experience was the fact that nearly the entire cast was present for the screening and a Q & A session afterwards.  Unfortunately that was not the case with Dogtooth… I had waaaayyy more questions for that director!  Here is a picture of the cast fielding questions:

The inside of the paramount was very interesting.  The ceiling was pretty amazing …

The two main takeaways from this post are:

1.  If you get the chance to see this film,  DO IT!

2.  If you get a chance to see a film at the Paramount, DO IT!