Until tonight the only time I’d seen Dance Me Outside (1995) was at the Ottawa theatrical premier on March 8 of that year. Indie/Canadian cinema was not really my thing at the time so the only reason I ever saw this movie was because I’d scored a pass to see it for free. And the experience was strange because I didn’t care for the first 70 minutes of the film but the final 10 minutes erased all that because the ending was so fucking good.
Because of this, any time in the past 25 years when I’d think about this movie it always generated those hits of endorphins you get when your mind wanders to a wonderful experience from your past.
So tonight I decided to revisit it. I was worried that it hadn’t aged well – a movie about the experiences of First Nations’ people that was written, directed, and produced by white guys – could be a perfect storm of cringe.
But I didn’t find that at all. The social commentaries felt as relevant today as they would have been then and the casting (and performances) were great – most of the actors were hired locally in Parry Sound Ontario. The subplots were full of surprises that I’d forgotten, and the ending remained perfect.
So to summarize: Dance Me Outside (1995) – 8.5/10 – available on Apple’s movie service for $5 CDN (and it’s only 80 minutes so you should really give it a try.)
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Die Hard Three 
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