This week the new movie Maos last Dancer premiered in Australia. It was shown at the Toronto Film Festival recently It is relevant because the second Asian boy is to have his first appearance in New York. Mathew Koon in the UK was the first. His Swan Lake video from the UK show is my favourite and most played video.
The audience in notoriously conservative Melbourne, gave the film a standing ovation. For many there it was the first one they had ever seen. It opens on October1 2009. The book is available from Amazon.
[cut and paste from various web pages]
A drama based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin. At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
Cast members
Adult Li - Chi Cao: Born in China, Chi was trained at the Beijing Dance Academy and the Royal Ballet School. He joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1995 and was promoted to Principal in 2002. Chi is a virtuoso classical dancer, and often leads the Company in the classical repertory. His superb technique won him the gold medal in 1998 at the International Ballet Competition in Varna. Chi has also represented the BRB at a number of prestigious occasions, dancing at the NATO gala in Birmingham (2000) and Birmingham's gala to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's golden jubilee (2002). And Chi is the son of two of Li’s former teachers at the Beijing Dance Academy.
Middle Li - Chengwu Guo: One of the top graduates of the Beijing Dance Academy. Chengwu won one of the top prizes in the prestigious junior international ballet competition in Prix De Lausanne in 2006 and won the Gold Medal in the Shanghai Ballet Competition in the same year. He is now a member of the Australian Ballet.
Little Li - Huang Wen Bin: A gorgeous young boy from an athletics school in China.
Here is a link to a very interesting and large article in todays Melbourne Age
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertain ... 18290.html
New Chinese Billy Elliot movie premieres
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andrewcraig
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Re: New Chinese Billy Elliot movie premieres
Amazing! This story keeps unfolding in unpredictable ways...
Re: New Chinese Billy Elliot movie premieres
Is this only going to play in Australia? I hope it comes to the UK - his story is semi-well known here although the book admittedly is nowhere near as popular here as in Li's adopted country of Australia.
Having seen the trailer I must confess that Chi Cao, the lead actor from the Birmingham Royal Ballet seems kind of wooden - for lack of a better word. I don't know if that's what the director was aiming for though. I remember Chengwu Guo from the 2006 Prix de Lausanne. He danced the Basilio variation from Don Quixote with much flair (I think Chi dances that in the movie). In fact I thought he danced it better than Sergei Polunin, current darling of the Royal Ballet, who danced right before him.
As a side note - Matthew Koon who was mentioned by the OP likes the book.
View the trailer
here
Having seen the trailer I must confess that Chi Cao, the lead actor from the Birmingham Royal Ballet seems kind of wooden - for lack of a better word. I don't know if that's what the director was aiming for though. I remember Chengwu Guo from the 2006 Prix de Lausanne. He danced the Basilio variation from Don Quixote with much flair (I think Chi dances that in the movie). In fact I thought he danced it better than Sergei Polunin, current darling of the Royal Ballet, who danced right before him.
As a side note - Matthew Koon who was mentioned by the OP likes the book.
View the trailer
hereRed's my colour
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andrewcraig
- Tony
- Posts: 709
- Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:33 pm
- Location: Melbourne Australia
Re: New Chinese Billy Elliot movie premieres
Thanks for the link to the trailer. I have just arrived back home after my Billyathon to New york and London and this had a big weekend coverage, in Melbourne.
To me the interesting part is that the Graeme Murphy directed Swan lake is featured in the film. It is always sold out almost as soon as it is announced, and I have yet to see it.
I am pleased that Matthew Koon knows and likes the book. I just wish I was in New York to present a copy to Alex Ko. But maybe he like Matthew is well aware of it.
To me the interesting part is that the Graeme Murphy directed Swan lake is featured in the film. It is always sold out almost as soon as it is announced, and I have yet to see it.
I am pleased that Matthew Koon knows and likes the book. I just wish I was in New York to present a copy to Alex Ko. But maybe he like Matthew is well aware of it.
Re: New Chinese Billy Elliot movie premieres
I just got home from seeing 'Mao's Last Dancer', and would like to recommend it to everyone. It is a very faithful adaptation of Li's autobiography (which I read over the summer), and it is very beautifully shot. Some of the critics complain that it lacks direction to the plot, but that is perhaps its greatest strength - Director Bruce Beresford shot Li's life as it happened, and stood back to let events unfold, rather than trying to tie all the threads together in one big, pretty, Hollywood knot.
Li's book is written in chronological order, going from his childhood in a peasant village through his schooling in Beijing, to his visit to the US that became a defection and a career. The film starts with his first arrival in the US, and shows us the earlier times as flashbacks, and then moves on to the defection as a sort of climax, then continues into his early professional life.
Finding a screening might be a challenge - I don't think the movie has opened very wide, given the potentially limited audience. It premiered in the US in September as best I can tell, and just now made it to my city, for one week, sharing one screen with another flick.
Some of the details that are covered in the book aren't seen on screen, such as Madame Mao's involvement in the school, the training in Chinese Opera the students received together with ballet training, village life, and various ups and downs and injuries in Li's professional life, but all the important information is there to get a sense of the times and places. One of things I liked best was showing Li's culture shock and fish-out-of-water experiences arriving in the US and grappling with an unknown language.
The world being described is very detailed, we're shown many small aspects of complete lives and relationships, without the film being distracted by the temptation to explore them fully. One example is a high school age class where a boy is subtly jockeying around to ensure that he'll be able to rehearse a pas de deux with a specific female student (who is quite pleased at his success), and the teachers who seem aware of what's happening but neither break them up or allow them to get too close, yet the film doesn't waste any further time showing the relationship - it's just a layer of texture helping to create a complete reality.
The dancing ranges from beginner's classes to archival footage of Baryshnikov, and many numbers are shown at length, not just a few seconds and applause. The camera work for dance is generally done in long takes with a wide shot, although there are some closeups cut in, along with an occasional crane shot. It gives a good feel for the performances, without a distracting amount of editing.
Much of the film was shot in China - I was surprised somewhat by this, as much of the film shows Chinese officials acting in stereotypical Mao-era fashion, with much 'all hail the glorious leader' sloganeering and accused anti-revolutionaries being hauled off to uncertain fates. It is a measure of how far times have progressed that the Chinese government is willing to allow such characters to be shown in not entirely flattering lights.
A good film, an inspiring story, and a lot of dance - do you need any other reasons to seek this film out, if it comes to your town? I'm now waiting for the DVD....
Li's book is written in chronological order, going from his childhood in a peasant village through his schooling in Beijing, to his visit to the US that became a defection and a career. The film starts with his first arrival in the US, and shows us the earlier times as flashbacks, and then moves on to the defection as a sort of climax, then continues into his early professional life.
Finding a screening might be a challenge - I don't think the movie has opened very wide, given the potentially limited audience. It premiered in the US in September as best I can tell, and just now made it to my city, for one week, sharing one screen with another flick.
Some of the details that are covered in the book aren't seen on screen, such as Madame Mao's involvement in the school, the training in Chinese Opera the students received together with ballet training, village life, and various ups and downs and injuries in Li's professional life, but all the important information is there to get a sense of the times and places. One of things I liked best was showing Li's culture shock and fish-out-of-water experiences arriving in the US and grappling with an unknown language.
The world being described is very detailed, we're shown many small aspects of complete lives and relationships, without the film being distracted by the temptation to explore them fully. One example is a high school age class where a boy is subtly jockeying around to ensure that he'll be able to rehearse a pas de deux with a specific female student (who is quite pleased at his success), and the teachers who seem aware of what's happening but neither break them up or allow them to get too close, yet the film doesn't waste any further time showing the relationship - it's just a layer of texture helping to create a complete reality.
The dancing ranges from beginner's classes to archival footage of Baryshnikov, and many numbers are shown at length, not just a few seconds and applause. The camera work for dance is generally done in long takes with a wide shot, although there are some closeups cut in, along with an occasional crane shot. It gives a good feel for the performances, without a distracting amount of editing.
Much of the film was shot in China - I was surprised somewhat by this, as much of the film shows Chinese officials acting in stereotypical Mao-era fashion, with much 'all hail the glorious leader' sloganeering and accused anti-revolutionaries being hauled off to uncertain fates. It is a measure of how far times have progressed that the Chinese government is willing to allow such characters to be shown in not entirely flattering lights.
A good film, an inspiring story, and a lot of dance - do you need any other reasons to seek this film out, if it comes to your town? I'm now waiting for the DVD....