In the last few years we’ve seen a slew of films featuring Gen X actors (and even a few directors) working with their daughters in films, be it Ewan McGregor and his daughter Clara in “Bleeding Love,” M. Night Shyamalan featuring his daughter Saleka Night in “Trap,” or the best of the lot, Maya Hawke as novelist Flannery O’Connor in her dad Ethan Hawke’s film “Wildcat.” The latest film in this trend comes from co-writer and star Steve Zahn, who acts opposite his daughter Audrey Zahn, in “She Dances,” which is directed by co-writer Rick Gomez.
Filmed in Kentucky, the film begins with a montage of home video footage of two young kids. The younger sister is always dancing, while her slightly older brother is a goofball. The girl is Claire (Audrey Zahn), a dancer about to graduate from high school. We meet her at the end of dance class, where she and her best friend, Kat (Mackenzie Ziegler), discuss their plans to move to New York City to pursue careers as professional dancers. At the same time, we’re introduced to her father, Jason (Steve Zahn), who is at dinner with his business partner Brian (Ethan Hawke). The two are wining and dining a couple of prospective buyers for their bourbon distillery, Two Jacks, named after Jason and Brian’s sons, who are both named Jack.
However, before the dinner is over, it’s implied that Jason’s son Jack has passed away sometime in the recent past. As both Jason and Claire head home that night, the movie splits into two. Through this split screen, we see the many ways these two share the same mannerisms and even make the same jokes. It also shows the fracture in their family: Jason has gone home to an empty apartment, while Claire is greeted by her mother, Deb (Rosemarie DeWitt). When Jason has to take Claire to her final dance competition because her Nan, Deb’s mother, fell off a ladder trying to get her cat off the roof, Claire is less than enthused. Deb reminds her, “This family has been through hell and back, and we’re still very fragile… including your father.”
On the road with Claire and Kat, Jason is nervous, overly eager to be back in his daughter’s life. Happy to be useful, but not always doing the right thing. And completely out of step with the close bond that these girls share. As the trio arrives at the convention center for the competition, the film embraces its specificity, with real, lived-in details of dance life lovingly played for laughs. We see this when Jason, charged with bringing a purple bag for Claire and Kat that they left behind in their hotel room, tackles the task as if it were the most important thing he’s ever done for his daughter. After cramming in a car with some flirty dance moms and their young children, Jason arrives at the convention center and navigates its labyrinth of ballrooms with the determination of a man on a mission, only to discover the bag merely contained snacks.
These comic moments are balanced by scenes soaked in sincerity, like when Jason shares with Claire and Kat a story about how, as a teenager, he starred in a local production of “Oklahoma!” without anyone knowing. When they ask him why he didn’t want his family to see him perform, he simply replies, “It felt like mine. I just wanted to do it for me.” Zahn is excellent in these tender moments, demonstrating his acute ability to imbue such stories with a deep well of feeling without a false or exaggerated note. There’s also something really beautiful about a dad watching his daughter excel. The film includes several scenes of just that, as Jason watches with pride and glee as Claire and Kat dance as a duo, or when Claire dances her solo number. Even just watching Jason see what great friends Claire and Kat are for each other is oddly compelling.
The same can be said for the friendship between Jason and Brian, which mirrors the deep, real-life friendship between Zahn and Hawke. The two men share an easy chemistry, playful and concerned. In one scene, Brian rushes to check on Jason after several of his calls go unanswered. Here, the film shows how a family tragedy can reach beyond the family directly affected. While Jason, Claire, and Deb mourn their Jack and attempt to patch their family, Brian is there as a friend, a business partner, and of course, the father of their son, his Jack, who also lost a friend. It’s an intricate web of relationships, and the film’s script is at its sharpest when it traces the reverberations of death and their many aftershocks.
As the film barrels towards its conclusion, we, of course, get a heartfelt moment between Jason and Claire as they discuss one of these aftershocks. Earlier, both Deb and Brian told him he just needed to “be there” for Claire. As the weekend progresses, it becomes clear that what Claire needs is not just her dad’s presence, but also his acknowledgement of Jack. That he was. “It feels like he’s disappearing, or that he never was,” she says to him. The hardest part of losing someone you love is how hard it is to keep their memory alive. To allow the pleasure of the good memories you have of them to have more power than the pain of their absence. While the younger Zahn does not quite have the same natural gravitas as her dad, she lands the emotions of this scene with aplomb.
Where Audrey Zahn really shines, however, is in the dance sequences. Her final dance sequence uses the footage we saw at the beginning beautifully, with Claire dancing in silhouette in front of it as it screens behind her. Unfortunately, this is somewhat undercut by the way the dance itself is filmed. Gomez opts to film either in a wide, zoomed-out shot or with a mix of tight cut-ins. Neither framing does Zahn’s emotive dancing justice. Thankfully, the emotional catharsis of the moment endures, as Claire finally dances just for herself while Jason watches, proud of his daughter and ready to mend their fragile yet unshakable bond.
