Nancy Biurski's documentary on the astonishing ballerina affectionately known as Tanny is not quite a great movie: there are a few too many stills, some clunky voiceovers, and an occasionally foray into the lugubrious. But it does tell a great story. Tanny, whose long limbs and angular grace were expansive enough to inspire not only ballet giant George Balanchine (who married her) but also Broadway legend Jerome Robbins, was cut down at the peak of her career: crippled by polio at age 27. But the end of her artmaking was not the end of her life, and Afternoon of a Faun does just what a good artist's biography should do: illuminate the artist's humanity and its connection to the art she made, all without overshadowing the transcendence that made people care in the first place. There's a heartbreaking drama to be made about Balanchine and his muse after she's paralyzed, but it's enough here to simply hear it described. (2014) — Matthew Lickona
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