White Nights (1985)

Such a frustrating disappointment

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Nikolai 'Kolya' Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov) is a Soviet defector ballet star. During a flight from Tokyo, the plane is forced to land in Siberia. The injured Kolya is taken by KGB Colonel Chaiko to dance once again for the Soviet Union. Former American Raymond Greenwood (Gregory Hines) becomes his minder and dance motivator. Raymond is a defector and performer who is married to Russian girl Darya (Isabella Rossellini). Galina Ivanova (Helen Mirren) is Kolya's former partner and old flame. Kolya wants to escape but he has to determine if Raymond is a friend or foe.The chemistry between Baryshnikov and Hines is great. Baryshnikov is not necessarily a good actor but he doesn't need to be great in this. Their clashing styles of dance is fun and thrilling. The escape isn't anything great but there are locations in Leningrad. This is an old style communist espionage thriller in the ever-changing new era of détente.

I am not a dance fan, but dance is very important to this film, as is the story, and the theme song "Say You" by Lionel Ritchie. The best things about the film are the characters, and the way the film switches gears and tricks the audience (In a good way). These are characters you care about because of the hell they have went through and the best of them is without question Darya Greenwood (Isabella Rossellini), who is a Russian who is married to a black American defector to the USSR (Gregory Hines). You can see emotions written all over her face, throughout the film: Love and fear, being just two of them. Spoilers: As for the trickery you think the story is about 'Kolya' Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov), an ex- Bolshoi Ballet dancer who crashed in a plane and landed back in the USSR, and his relationship with Galina Ivanova (Helen Mirren). But rather it is about Raymond Greenwood (Gregory Hines), who made a major mistake years ago and defected to the USSR, and is being used as a pawn by Colonel Chaiko (Jerzy Skolimowski), who is great in this film (Second only to Rossellini in the acting department). At the end of the film Koyla and Darya make it to the US Embassy after a great car chase, and Raymond is finally exchanged for a low level spy, Greenwood says at the end: "I'm going home, for better or for worse, I'm going home." You know that it is Greenwood's story, because he is the one who ends up with the girl. 10/10 stars.

Can anyone tell me what scene in the movie uses the popular version of the song Say You Say Me? I thought I had remembered that it was during the main dance sequence between the two men but that sounds like a completely different song. When I see the movie on TV, I never hear the song except over the credits. I feel like I'm going crazy. I understand that the song never appeared on the movie soundtrack album because the record label was different from Richie's own label and they didn't want profits for a hit single going somewhere else first. And I could have sworn that when I first saw the movie the song was prominent in the movie itself. I don't know if I'm seeing truncated versions of the movie now or if the song was moved or if I'm just misremembering. Anybody know?

This is a beautiful movie on dance, love of his country, love of itself, love of the others and friendship. Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov give their best performance. This is the union of two different styles for the creation of one unique. The two bests scenes are the one when Hines and Baryshnikov dance together in a modern style for duping the KGB. And the other one is the Tapedance impro of Gregory Hines. You must discover this film even if you don't like the dance, for two reasons : first, as I said it before, this is not only about the dance. The second reason is it's the unique occasion to discover Gregory Hines in is best performance