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Poster for Dance Me Outside

Dance Me Outside

After the party's over, real life kicks into gear.

1995 · 1h 24m · R Comedy, Crime, Drama
Directed by Bruce McDonald

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Overview

Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
69%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Funny, scary, appealing and bizarre.

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Fresh

Filled with characters who are more frustrated than ennobled, Dance Me Outside deftly turns a number of narrative conventions upside down.

John Hartl, Seattle Times
Fresh

Dance Me Outside nevertheless stays compelling, thanks to its cast of appealing unknowns. You haven't seen anyone quite like them before -- and that's meant as high praise.

Michael Sauter, Entertainment Weekly
Fresh

Bolstered by a winning, youthful cast, the film is a droll ensemble piece that makes its serious points skillfully and effortlessly.

Leonard Klady, Variety
Fresh

[Dance Me Outside] packs a lot of punch into an offbeat drama that at first appears to be headed nowhere. Ultimately, though, you feel involved in lives that end up touching home.

Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

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