MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Rooftops’ Is Ballet of Life in Seamy N.Y.

Robert Wise’s “Rooftops” (citywide), a vibrant romantic fable, takes us into Manhattan’s Alphabet City, that section of derelict Beaux Arts apartment buildings lining Avenues A, B, C and D and their cross streets on the Lower East Side. It is an area inhabited mainly by impoverished minorities, and it is menaced by drug traffic (and also by gentrification, but that’s not part of this movie). Writer Terence Brennan tells us of a group of young people, alone in the world, who have made their homes on the roofs of abandoned structures. “Good view, low rent, plenty of light,” says one girl of her makeshift home. “Just what everybody in this city wants.”

On a nearby rooftop the young man known only as “T” (Jason Gedrick) has made a cozy retreat in an old water tower and supports himself from whatever he can strip from the old structures and sell as scrap. “T” and the young people who surround him are all decent, self-reliant kids who are struggling to survive without succumbing to the quick money of prostitution or drugs. Of course they are constantly endangered, in particular by the cool and deadly dealer Lobo (Eddie Velez). It is his beautiful cousin Elana (Troy Beyer) who attracts “T.”

Since Wise was the director of the multi-Oscared “West Side Story” it’s tempting to call this his “Lower East Side Story.” But “Rooftops” is not quite a musical in the sense that its people break into song, yet Wise shrewdly directs it as if it were a musical. This is a leaner, smaller-scaled film than “West Side Story,” but it has the same driving tempo and vitality. Elana and “T” and their friends are essentially figures in a ballet in which the motif is set by the “combat dance.” It is derived from the Brazilian martial arts discipline known as Capoeira, a self-defense tactic disguised as a dance and brought by slaves from Africa to Brazil in the 16th Century.

“Rooftops” represents a gratifying collaboration between seasoned pros and much younger talent on both sides of the camera. Production designer Jeannine C. Oppewall and cameraman Theo Van de Sande give the film an unsparing natural look, an approach that could easily bulldoze the film’s essentially fairy-tale plot. But Wise and his distinguished editor (and frequent collaborator) William Reynolds bring to the story a rigorous sense of structure and pace; indeed, just as the actors seem choreographed rather than directed--even when they’re not dancing--the film itself seems shaped, even sculpted, so that tension evolves from a fantasy being played out boldly against urban locales at their grittiest.

Wise’s youthful, great-looking cast exudes talent and energy. Gedrick, who has just taken over as leading man in the Broadway revival of “Our Town,” is a splendid hero, understated but no more to be messed with than Dirty Harry, and Beyer, who is probably best known for her role as Diahann Carroll’s daughter on “Dynasty,” is a poised beauty. Tisha Campbell is her dynamic best friend, and Alexis Cruz is the “Artful Dodger” of the plot, a gifted, diminutive graffiti muralist whose own long coat sports some of his best work. With David Stewart and Michael Kamen’s intoxicating score and John Carrafa and Jelon Vieira’s crisp choreography it’s no wonder “Rooftops” (rated R for language, some violence) has such zing.

‘ROOFTOPS’

A New Visions Pictures presentation of a Koch Company production in association with Mark/Jett Productions. Executive producers Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin. Producer Howard Koch Jr. Director Robert Wise. Screenplay Terence Brennan; from a story by Allan Goldstein and Tony Mark. Camera Theo Van de Sande. Music David A. Stewart, Michael Kamen. Executive music producer Joel Sill. Choreographer John Carrafa. Capoeira choreographer Jelon Vieira. Production designer Jeannine C. Oppewall. Costumes Kathleen Detoro. “Squeak’s” murals designed by David Cooney. Film editor William Reynolds. With Jason Gedrick, Troy Beyer, Eddie Velez, Tisha Campbell, Alexis Cruz, Allen Payne.

Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes.

MPAA-rated: R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian).