Mao's Last Dancer

National Times ^ | October 3, 2009 | Jim Schembri

[Nipfan]

THERE are many graceful touches in Mao's Last Dancer, Bruce Beresford's stirring, uplifting adaptation of the best-selling memoir by Li Cunxin, the Chinese ballet star who defected to the West in 1981 while on a fellowship with the Houston Ballet.

Snip

There's little grace, though, in Beresford's highly efficient if workman-like direction. With so much ground to cover and so many characters to keep track of, Beresford diligently churns through Cunxin's story in a frill-free, matter-of-fact manner. This certainly gives the film great drive, if little rhythm or any real sense of style.

[Nipfan]

This film is based on a best selling book of the same name by Li Cunxin. I saw it in Sydney on Saturday night and absolutely loved it. On the way out of the theatre I heard many people discussing it and didn't hear one negative comment. Everyone loved it. Many of the people there had some first hand experience of Communism, although in Europe, not China. I myself was born in Hungary under Communism and the film rang very true to me.

The film recently won the People's Choice first runner up award at the Toronto Film Festival and I've been really puzzled why the reviews here have been generally lukewarm. That is, until I saw the review in the Sydney Morning Herald (which cannot be posted here for copyright reasons). I think this short quote pretty much explains it:

"This new film appears calculated to do two things: make everyone cry and maximise its appeal to those red-blooded, childlike Americans who think "freedom" is a US concept."

Apparently, the reviewer was offended that the film dares show America in a positive light.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/film-reviews/maos-last-dancer/2009/10/05/1254700968085.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

As I said I enjoyed it tremendously. I'm not sure when it will be released in the U.S. but its definitely worth seeing.