Mao's Last Dancer

This is a beautiful, romantic film that you'll particularly enjoy if you appreciate ballet - the dance scenes are spectacular. Based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, who grew up in a peasant family in China, was selected at age 11 to train as a ballet dancer in Beijing, and defected to the US in 1981 after spending the summer as a student with the Houston Ballet Company. He went on to become one of their principal dancers and later joined a ballet company in Australia. The film moves between the stories of his early life in China and his time in the US, including the very tense situation of his defection. The role of Li Cunxin is played by Chi Cao, a wonderful dancer who trained in both Beijing and the Royal Ballet School in England; he's currently principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Bruce Greenwood is excellent in the role of Ben Stevenson, who was artistic director in Houston and responsible for Li Cunxin being in the US in the first place. The film is directed by Australian Bruce Berseford, well known for a number of excellent films including Tender Mercies and Driving Miss Daisy.

Youssou N'Dour: I bring what I love

I'm still mystified by the fact that until I watched this film, as far as I can remember I had never before heard Senegalese super-star singer Youssou N'Dour, despite the fact that I've been listening to "world music" for many years. This documentary includes many clips of him singing at various concerts and recording sessions, and I predict that even if you've never been a fan of African or any other international music before, you won't be able to watch this film without at least smiling and possibly being compelled to get up and dance. I plan to now purchase one of his albums! He has been a well-known, popular singer in Senegal for over 30 years, and then in 2005 he released the controversial album "Egypt", which includes musicians from Egypt and is spiritual in nature, all the songs having themes from his Sufi-Muslim religion, of which he's a devout follower. As well as including clips from his early life and music, the film follows the controversy generated mainly by his fellow countrymen because of the feeling it was inappropriate to so popularize their religion in music. It also includes the album's wildly successful concert tour in Europe and North America, ending in his winning a Grammy for "Egypt". I loved this film and was completely taken in by the music and Youssou N'Dour's amazing voice and charismatic presence. I've read some critical reviews of it as being mainly for the purpose self-promotion, but that's not how it seemed to me.

The September Issue

Those of you who read my review of Valentino: The last emperor in my 2009 Film Reviews document will know that I by no means consider myself to be a fashionista, but as with that film, I found this documentary about the amazing and lengthy process to create and publish Vogue magazine's huge September issue completely fascinating. I like nice clothes and enjoy seeing people who are smartly dressed, but I watch this level of involvement in high-end fashion with a combination of admiration and revulsion. From my point of view it's actually a completely unnecessary and disgustingly extravagant activity, plus many of the dresses are really unwearable by normal people, yet in watching this film I could kind of see the designers, editors, photographers, etc., as purely creative artists rather than wondering how they could justify the expense and lives devoted to this kind of fashion. The film revolves mainly around Anna Wintour, who has run Vogue for many years and has the last word on everything, and Grace Coddington, Vogue's Creative Director also for many years. It's fascinating to see their very different personalities, how they often seem to clash and yet manage to come out with their product every month. It also demonstrates, to me at least, that what's considered beautiful in fashion or photographs is purely a matter of personal taste of the moment, rather than any absolute truth of beauty.

Grey Gardens

I had heard the glowing reviews of this 2009 HBO film and was sorry I couldn't see it since I don't subscribe to HBO. So I was really pleased to find the DVD on the shelf at the video rental place recently. It's based on the 1975 documentary of the same name and focuses on the incredible, eccentric and fascinating two Edith Bouvier Phelans, mother and daughter, who lived together for many years in a slowly deteriorating mansion, Grey Gardens, in East Hampton, NY. They were the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, and when the completely dilapidated and filthy state of the place was made public, she covered the costs for making it livable once again. This film goes farther than the highly praised documentary, though, in that it also has flashbacks to their much earlier lives when they lived in luxury and were immersed in high-end society. Both Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange give truly amazing performances. Many scenes of these baffling but endearing women and their relationship with life and each other remain vividly with me.

Chloe

I definitely liked this film more than a number of reviewers did. I always find Atom Egoyan's films interesting but haven't really liked one since 1997's The Sweet Hereafter; that's my favourite, with Exotica being next in line and now Chloe being third. Briefly, the story involves a married couple, played by Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson, whose marriage has become rather distant and unsatisfying, especially from her point of view. He's an attractive and popular college teacher, and she suspects him of having affairs with his students. So she hires a prostitute, played by the young, luminous and beautiful Amanda Seyfreid who's been in just about every other film these days, to seduce him so she can see how he reacts. That's all I'll say about the story, except that it isn't quite that straightforward, though I felt this was more linear and mainstream in content than Egoyan's films usually are. Beyond the outer storyline, though, I found it very thought-provoking about relationships and how we handle them: How much do we take for granted when things are going well and smoothly? How much do we believe the things we think we know with such certainty about each other? How much are we aware of our effect on other people? As well, I felt the tone set by the cinematography was very effective; though often the settings were dark and stark, they were sensual at the same time.

The Ghost Writer

What a thoroughly satisfying film! This is a mystery/thriller directed and co-written by Roman Polanski. I haven't always liked his films, but three from the 1960s really stand out for me: Knife in the Water (in Polish), Repulsion (starring the young Catherine Deneuve) and of course Rosemary's Baby - I was haunted and frightened by all of them. The Ghost Writer is adapted from a book and revolves around a former British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) and the writer (Ewan McGregor) who's the "ghost" helping him write his memoirs. The acting by both of them, as well as by Olivia Williams who plays the PM's wife, is excellent; the story (which is a barely concealed take on the current political reality) compelling; the details of scenery, settings, colours and overall visual tone perfect; and the music a fantastic complement to the action, heightening the mood without being overbearing. The score was written by Alexandre Desplat, whom I discovered has written scores for quite a number of recent films (The Queen, Coco avant Chanel, Julie and Julia, Syriana, to name a few) but I don't remember in any of those being so taken by the music as an important part of the film as I was in this one. Anyway, I predict that as this year's films are rolled out, I'll continue to think this is one of the best of the year.

March Break

It's just about time for school children here in Nova Scotia to have their March break, and I'll be taking one as well. I'm not going anywhere but will be doing a meditation retreat from March 12-21, so don't expect any posts during that period. Following that, I plan on getting back to my list of films and watching DVDs, and as well, I'm hoping some films of interest will show up in the theatres here by then, either ones left over from 2009 trickling in (Atom Egoyan's "Chloe", for instance) or new ones (Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" is one I'm waiting for).