Film reviews
Men In Black 3
It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.
Bel Ami
The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.
The Dictator
A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.
The Woman In Black
Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.
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Mao's Last Dancer (Film)
Rating: PG
Running Time: 117
Country: Australia
Director: Bruce Beresford
Cast: Joan Chen, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MachLachlan, Amanda Schull
Distributor: Hopscotch/Roadshow
Release Date: October 01, 2009
Film Worth: $14.50
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worthGripping and well cast historical crowd pleaser about a man defying his nation.
It has been some time since Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) hit our screens in any meaningful way. The Contract (2006) went straight-to-DVD, and Evelyn (2002) slid through cinemas with barely a whimper. Thus it is something of a relief to find the famed Australian director back on form in this Australian/Chinese co-production about the life of a celebrated ballet dancer. Working from Jan Sardi's (Shine) pacy adaptation of Li Cunxin's memoirs, and energised by Peter James' (Paradise Road) gripping cinematography, Mao's Last Dancer is the consummate crowd-pleaser.
Li (Chi Cao) is plucked from obscurity by Madame Mao's cultural elite in the closing hours of her husband's despotic rule over China. Sent to Beijing as a young boy determined to do right by his family, Li becomes the toast of Chinese ballet, and earns the honour of leading an exchange to Houston where, to the horror of his guardians and his hosts, he defects. This is the backbone on which Sardi and Beresford explore Cunxin's emotional, political and ethical conflict, which is all played out against a young man's emerging self-determination.
Beresford is a traditional, no-frills filmmaker, and he succeeds in fashioning a moving memoir into
a thrilling movie. Truth is, ballet has the capacity to kill cinema stone dead, yet he teases out the
emotional resonance that keeps the story well and truly alive. That said, the dance sequences are certainly not put aside. Rejecting close focus and fast cuts, Beresford keeps the camera, and the
audience, fluidly engaged in the film's central, athletic aestheticism. He's helped by an exceptional cast - handsome newcomer Chi Cao exudes a captivatingly innocent resolve, while Bruce Greenwood (Thirteen Days, Capote) delivers yet another compelling performance as Li's American mentor.
Mao's Last Dancer is the kind of vigorous, character driven historical drama at which the director excels - it's Beresford at his best.
