A Wink and a Smile

There is a useful directness to A Wink and a Smile, a documentary shaped by Deirdre Allen Timmons with a firm understanding of its audience. In A Wink and a Smile, Miss Indigo Blue provides the anchor while Diane Bruch introduces a contrasting energy. Without revealing later complications, A Wink and a Smile opens from this situation: Ten ordinary women learn the art of the striptease when they dive into the glamorous world of burlesque in this musical documentary of diva proportions. The resulting its 1h 31m running time feels most convincing whenever A Wink and a Smile trusts behaviour more than explanation.

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Deirdre Allen Timmons gives A Wink and a Smile a directorial line that is capable of strong moments without finding a complete rhythm from its opening promise to its final movement. The staging of A Wink and a Smile is strongest when Deirdre Allen Timmons allows motivation to determine pace instead of reversing that priority. Viewed as a complete piece, A Wink and a Smile confirms that the appealing elements never quite settle into a seamless whole across most of the running time. A tighter version of A Wink and a Smile would address how emotional turns sometimes arrive before the relationships are ready, yet the surrounding work remains persuasive.

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What keeps A Wink and a Smile emotionally readable is Miss Indigo Blue, whose choices establish a consistent point of view. In scenes with Diane Bruch, A Wink and a Smile gains tension from two performers refusing to produce the same kind of energy. Casey Ellison contributes a separate rhythm to A Wink and a Smile and helps the supporting material feel less purely functional. The direction by Deirdre Allen Timmons gives the cast of A Wink and a Smile room to connect the quieter beats with the larger ones.

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The craft of A Wink and a Smile is defined by patient observation, supported by patient observation rather than overwhelmed by decoration. Golden Echo Films gives A Wink and a Smile a production framework in which carefully chosen testimony can remain connected to story. Made from a United States production context, A Wink and a Smile uses setting and design to clarify mood before dialogue has to explain it. The technical finish of A Wink and a Smile works because image, sound and editing appear to be serving the same immediate purpose.

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A Wink and a Smile finds additional purpose in its examination of the tension between public stories and private experience. Through the performance of Miss Indigo Blue, A Wink and a Smile makes that examination feel personal before it becomes broadly symbolic. The idea of Ten repeatedly returns A Wink and a Smile to the cost behind its more visible developments. Deirdre Allen Timmons is most persuasive when A Wink and a Smile allows the theme to emerge from an uncomfortable choice rather than polished dialogue.

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The plot of A Wink and a Smile is built around the uneasy relationship between Ten and the central character. For Miss Indigo Blue, that relationship gives A Wink and a Smile an emotional objective stronger than simple forward motion. The screenplay associated with Deirdre Allen Timmons lets an important relationship reshape the direction of A Wink and a Smile in stages. Although the treatment of a difficult choice could be sharper, A Wink and a Smile never entirely loses the thread established at the beginning.

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A Wink and a Smile ends as a mixed experience best approached with measured expectations, especially for viewers who enjoy thoughtful factual storytelling. What remains from A Wink and a Smile is the relationship between Miss Indigo Blue, patient observation and Deirdre Allen Timmons's control of mood. The weakness that emotional turns sometimes arrive before the relationships are ready narrows the impact of A Wink and a Smile without cancelling its better work. On balance, A Wink and a Smile gives its intended viewers a distinctive experience rather than a completely anonymous piece of content.