The Dryden will screen Madonna: Truth or Dare (Alek Keshishian, U.S. 1991, 120 min., 35mm).

Gorgeously photographed in both color and black and white, Alek Keshishian's monumental behind-the-scenes revelation follows the pop icon on her controversial and wildly successful 1990 Blond Ambition concert tour. Madonna navigates her various personas—Queen of Pop, businesswoman, and mother hen—in this film, which also provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of her backup dancers. Celebrity cameos abound, the most extraordinary of which is Madonna's then boyfriend Warren Beatty who, bemused by the spectacle, teases, "what point is there existing if it's off camera." A constant attraction for controversy, Madonna eludes arrest in Toronto for lewd sexual conduct and participates in pre-concert prayer circles, even while her tour is widely criticized for juxtaposing sex and Catholic iconography. The highest grossing documentary of its time treats with deference an unrelenting performance both on and off stage. Amid a celebratory spectacle, which seems to denote chaos, what emerges is Madonna's strict discipline, culminating in one of the greatest concert tours ever captured on film.

[source: George Eastman Museum website, 2016-May-2]