| The Waterdance | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Neal Jimenez Michael Steinberg |
| Written by | Neal Jimenez |
| Produced by | Marie Cantin (producer) Gale Anne Hurd (producer) Guy Riedel (executive producer) |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Mark Plummer |
| Edited by | Jeff Freeman |
| Music by | Michael Convertino |
| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.7 million[1] |
| Box office | $1,723,319 (United States)[2] |
The Waterdance is a 1992 Americandrama film directed byNeal Jimenez andMichael Steinberg and starringEric Stoltz,Wesley Snipes,William Forsythe, andHelen Hunt. It was written by Neal Jimenez. The film is a semi-autobiographical story about a youngfiction writer who becomestetraplegic fully paralyzed in ahiking accident and works to rehabilitate his body and mind at arehabilitation center.
The title refers to a dream recounted by Raymond Hill, Snipes's character, about dancing on the surface of a lake. Since, in Raymond's dream, he must continue dancing on the lake to avoid sinking and drowning, the dream may be a metaphoric reference to the necessity of continually coping with the world.
Joel Garcia is a writer who, after a hiking accident at a mountain, must struggle with paralysis. At the same time, he carries a relationship with Anna, a married woman, with whom he was having an affair at the time of the accident. The lovers attempt to carry on their affair during his emotional and difficult rehabilitation as aparaplegic.
The Waterdance received mostly positive reviews from critics; it holds a 94% approval rating atRotten Tomatoes from 17 reviews.[3]
In a review that awarded three and a half stars out of four,Roger Ebert praised Stoltz's acting and commented, "'The Waterdance' is about the everyday process of continuing one's life under a tragically altered set of circumstances. It considers what life is, and under what conditions it is worth living. After all the cheap sentiment that's been brought to this subject over the years, it is exhilarating and challenging to see a movie that knows exactly what it's talking about, and looks you straight in the eye."[4]
Steve Davis ofThe Austin Chronicle wrote, "The performances are nothing less than extraordinary. Stoltz, an actor who has seldom exhibited anything but genial blandness, uses this temperament to good effect here as Joel, a man who tempers the bitterness he feels over what's happened to him with benign acceptance. Snipes and Forsythe are both superb as the two fellow travelers in wheelchairs whom Joel befriends in the ward; their emoting is so real you often forget they're actors."[5]
The Waterdance won the Audience Award for Best Dramatic Feature and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the1992 Sundance Film Festival.[6]
The Waterdance was nominated for fourIndependent Spirit Awards in 1992 and was the only film to win two awards that year forBest First Feature andBest Screenplay.[7]
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