Review of Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) by Cathy S — 19 Aug 2010
This film premiered at Toronto last year, but this was the first I knew of it.
The film is a biopic based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin, a ballet dancer who created an international incident in the early 80?s by defecting from the Republic of China. Cunxin was invited to the US as an intern with the Houston Ballet and was soon catapulted into ballet stardom.
I assumed I was going to see a foreign film from China; actually, it was produced in Australia and doesn?t feel like a foreign film at all. There are scenes shot in China, which are subtitled and capture the cold, stark, oppression of rural Qingdao under Chairman Mao?s Republic of China, but on the whole the film truly feels as if it were filmed in the US in the late 70?s, early 80?s. It?s not just the sets, there?s something about the very color of the film that feels perfectly dated. Along with the actors.
Bruce Greenwood is quite good as Houston Ballet Artistic Director, Ben Stevenson, his very kind manner of speech and effeminate gestures seem right on target. I was also quite impressed with all the dancing we are treated to in the film. It makes me wonder if Li Cunxin could have been that much better than Chi Cao, who plays him in the movie.
Although the film can?t help but be a commentary on political freedom, at its heart its a film about the love of dancing.
This review of Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) was written by Cathy S on 19 Aug 2010.
Mao’s Last Dancer has generally received positive reviews.
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