The Dancer Upstairs succeeds as biographical drama with touches of thriller and police procedural. Mr. Malkovich is clearly indebted to Javier Bardem(Agustin) and veteran cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine (La Belle Epoque, Jamon Jamon, Tasio). The film depends on Bardem's restrained and thoughtful performance. Dancer is primarily "about" a man trying to have a positive impact on a society caught in a whirlwind of political forces and events.
Malkovich and company have managed to achieve a very specific sense of place; a sense of impending doom is sustained from the opening scene. There is no doubt Malkovich should do more films.

Yet I find the film problematic. The Dancer Upstairs is vague to a fault about the political forces at play and the historical context. We know only that the country is beset by poverty and corruption (it's implied that corruption drove Agustin away from a law practice) and that "the military" robbed Agustin of his dream by expropiating his family's coffee farm years ago. We explicitly witness horrific violence perpetrated by suicidal children under the influence of an anarchist-in-Maoist-disguise. We learn about these events first-hand, not as experienced by our protagonist ( media, phone call, etc). The graphic images shown here force one to ponder the motivations of the tiny martyrs. Then the film sticks its pretty head in the sand.