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When a
filmmaker finds an incredible story, the safe bet is that the
story will be told. But when the story stands on its own, is
written well, the director works with an incredible
photographer and singer, you have a potential winner.
Welcome to the world of Marta Becket, an aging
ballet dancer who lives in the ghost town of Death Valley
Junction, Calif.-Amargosa, as it once was known. The facts are
that Becket and her husband found the town when their car
broke down in the 1960s. The couple fell in love with the
place, Marta spent six years creating her own theater so that
she could perform with ... or without ... an audience.
The real
story is that of a little girl pushed to success by her mother
and economics, but who metamorphoses into an artist in her own
right-albeit late in life. The film paints an unforgettable
portrait of an amazing artist an her art, and of Becket's
private process of coming to grips with her mortality.
The facts and story alone could be the
basis for a good film. Director of Photography Curt
Apduhan's work takes it into the realm of
great work. Word on the street during film fest
was that Amargosa survived the Academy Awards cutting
process to be "in the
running."
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