Review of Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) by Larry B — 04 Sep 2010
Every superlative comes to mind for this film, even if every next event in the film seemed almost perfectly predictable. I sometimes have a hard time separating the personal connection from the artistic and technical merit of a film, however, and that came to me in spades here.
I went to China, in 1980, just as China was opening up to the West, as a Yale-China teaching fellow at Wuhan University, and my life has take a course of its own, it sometimes seems, ever since. This is what appears to have happened to Li Cunxin, three years my junior, on his arrival in Houston in that same year.
Of course, I would dare not compare myself to his talent, but there is a certain amount of historical connection here, and I felt like at some level I was watching my own life unfold before my eyes. Maybe that's why this film gets five stars for me.
This review of Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) was written by Larry B on 04 Sep 2010.
Mao’s Last Dancer has generally received positive reviews.
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