MAO'S LAST DANCER
4 out of 5 stars

i absolutely loved this movie about china’s greatest ballet dancer OF ALL TIME. OF ALL TIME!!! :P

mikhail baryshnikov was russia’s greatest ballet dancer, but china had their own. this movie shows us the story of how a little peasant boy is plucked from his class, trains under the cruel tutelage of his ballet instructors at the madame mao ballet academy, and then goes on to becoming a superstar of the houston ballet. li cunxin arrives at the houston airport, and is greeted by ben stevenson (bruce greenwood AKA capt pike from the newest star trek) and his principal dancers and their spouses. he doesn’t speak much english, but with the help of his english-chinese dictionary, he picks it up quite easily… and when one of the male principals pulls an arm muscle right before a major show at the miller theater in houston, li cunxin is asked to learn “don quixote” in 3 hours and take the stage for the first time in the u.s. he’s not sure he can do it, but the memories of his parents, his siblings, his schooling, his friends compell him to take the stage. he even has an american GF named elizabeth, who is also a ballerina, but obviously isn’t good enough to dance with the houston ballet. cunxin is then faced with political pressure from his motherland to return back to china after his gig in houston is up, but he doesn’t want to. this forces the still-communist chinese govt to detain cunxin, and this causes problems for all involved… (but not when your lawyer is trey macdougal from SATC! :P)

ballet fanatics: you’ll LOVE this. for those who hate subtitles: have no fear because 80% of the movie is in english… for those who want to feel inspired and want a good cry: this is the movie for you… what i liked about this movie the most is that one can never dream too big, and also even if there seems to be a cost to pursuing your dreams, in the end, it all works out… it’s a good biopic, plus i feel like it’s got some good historical content too re: mao’s red china and the chinese cultural revolution. so, go on… educate yourself, and add this movie to your queue! ;)