Review of Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) by Byron B — 26 Sep 2010
Fish out of water tale as Chi Cao playing Li Cunxin finds his way through the culture shock of moving from communist China to capitalist America. He grows up in regimented, propaganda filled, government controlled China in the 1970's. He is trained as a ballet dancer and in the early 1980's he arrives in Texas to dance with the Dallas ballet. Lies are also an important theme of the story.
The ballet segments are beautiful. However the plot seems rushed as so much time is condensed. The most inspiring parts of the story are quiet brief when Li's father tells him a tale about a frog and a toad and when Li's favorite teacher tells him about the archer. I felt like dance was given the focus at the exclusion of dramatic character development at times, but now thinking back on the movie I remember plenty of instances of dramatic conflict that will keep one interested as the movie progresses.
This review of Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) was written by Byron B on 26 Sep 2010.
Mao’s Last Dancer has generally received positive reviews.
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