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Film Review: ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’ Performs Strictly on Autopilot
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CHICAGO – World-renowned dancer Li Cunxin’s autobiography, “Mao’s Last Dancer,” has been transformed into the type of unimaginative, sentimental tear-jerker that will only move viewers who’ve never seen (or heard of) a movie before. It doesn’t adapt Li’s autobiography so much as stage the SparkNotes version.
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Though director Bruce Beresford once proved to have a gift for exploring intimate character studies on the order of “Tender Mercies” and “Driving Miss Daisy,” he’s clearly made this picture entirely on autopilot. It hurries through all the key moments in Li’s life until the audience is faced with title cards explaining what happened to people that we hardly knew. Remember the scene in “Inception” where Ellen Page wonders how she got to the cafe? That’s how every scene feels in “Mao’s Last Dancer,” since Jan Sardi’s script fails to sufficiently develop every character and plot arc, resulting in a feel-good drama that reeks of feel-nauseous contrivance.
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Aside from some conventionally gorgeous dance footage, nicely utilizing slow motion, the film is not at all about dance. There are barely any scenes focusing on the arduous years of practice and rehearsal that led Li on his road to professional victory, save for one shot where he jumps up a staircase with weights strapped to his feet. Instead, the film settles into a reliable rags-to-riches formula, beginning with Li arriving in the U.S. as a young man (played by Chi Cao), before promptly flashing back to his childhood in the Shandong province of China (this parallel structure adds nothing to the overall film).
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![Amanda Schull as Liz and Chi Cao as Li in MAO'S LAST DANCER. Amanda Schull as Liz and Chi Cao as Li in MAO'S LAST DANCER.](http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/sites/default/files/MAO1.jpg)
Amanda Schull as Liz and Chi Cao as Li in MAO’S LAST DANCER.
Photo credit: Simon Cardwell / Samuel Goldwyn Films / ATO Pictures