SnoopyStyle Li Cunxin is a Chinese ballet dancer. He arrives in America in a cultural exchange program sponsored by the Houston Ballet director Ben Stevenson (Bruce Greenwood). As a child, he was taken from a small rural village and trained in the state dance program in Beijing. He tries to adjust to the new culture and the new dance program. He falls for fellow dancer Elizabeth (Amanda Schull). Li wants to extend his stay but the Chinese government refuses.There is a general lack of drama in this biopic. His childhood story is interesting but without any surprises. It's interesting to see China but the story has no intensity. A similar thing can be said about the modern American side of the story. At least that has a love story and some drama about his defection. Two hours is way too long for a biopic that isn't that dramatic.

David Traversa If this movie was a Hollywood product from the 1940s, as a propaganda vehicle for America against the Japanese or the Germans, enemies at that time of the Land of Freedom, I could have understood it and, maybe, watched it. Not in 2009 when it was filmed. During the first minutes of this movie, we see a young hick (that was the impression he gave us) from China leaving the airport in some American city, looking up, open jawed at the glass curtained skyscrapers, ubiquitous and more than abundant products of the twenty and twenty first centuries, in the USA, DUBAI!!! (Incredible ultramodern architecture there!), China, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, France, Russia (practically all over the world they are the same).Appalled at the comfortable guest room in his host's house, as if he never saw anything remotely similar ever before in his life, ogle eyed at a freshly baked muffin (obviously in China they only eat balls of boiled white rice that they keep all day long in their dirty trouser pockets) and almost fainting in wonder at the view of a blender in action; in general behaving like Alley Oop out of his Neanderthal cave suddenly thrown into the twenty first century, badly dressed in a poor fitting suit (his host, looking at it, his eyeballs towards heaven, thinks: "Oh, that outfit..., we must do something about it..."). There is a Time Machine disturbing feeling between filming buildings of the present time --2009?--, a Mao's time village (1950?), a young boy from those days now a twenty something old man in the present (2009? SIXTY YEARS LATER???)... How are we supposed to put two and two together??? Simply outrageous. I only got that far --10 minutes or so-- before removing the CD from the player. Sorry, I don't have neither the time or the patience for this sort of c**p. What was the idea for this old fashioned, clumsy, OFFENSIVE type of propaganda? Do you want to see a SUBLIME film about ballet?: "The Red Shoes"-1948- with Moira Shearer, a true timeless Masterpiece.

kluseba I didn't expect that much from the movie as I bought it at a cheap price for several reasons. First of all, I am interested in Chinese culture and history and in my university classes, we were recently talking a lot about the era of Mao. Second, I saw that Kyle MacLachlan and Joan Chen would be starring in this movie and I both adored them in the legendary Twin Peaks series and thought it would be interesting to see them come back together for another movie. I also thought that the artistic side of the movie could be beautiful.But I didn't expect too see a masterpiece, maybe the best drama I have ever seen in my whole long life. This movie blew me completely away in every sense of the word.Usually I happen to hate dance movies, but the choreographers' works in this movie are stunning and overall beautiful. The decorations, the music and the dancers are majestic and were touching and you don't have to be a fan of ballet dancing or classical music to feel so.The acting of the movie was brilliantly played by every single actor. Let's underline the stunning performance of the sympathetic, powerful and yet naive Chi Cao who played his role as if he was really living this. The young actors Wen Bin Huang and Chengwu Guo did also a very great job and I hope to hear and see more of those rather unknown talents very soon. The more well known actors like Bruce Greenwood and Kyle MacLachlan are as always very solid and charismatic.The story of the movie is highly intriguing and touching. This is a movie about having dreams and ambitions, about fighting and believing, about hope and despair. There is a very philosophical touch in the whole story and thanks to the brilliant acting you get immediately drowned into this tragic drama where a young dancer must make many sacrifices to hold on to his dreams. When the young dancer finally gets a surprise on stage towards the end of the movie, I just began to cry. This was one of the most magic moments I have ever seen in a movie and I am not a very sentimental person. Someone that won't be touched by the intensity of emotions in this movie must have a heart of ice and stone and someone that is rather emotional might be touched all along the movie. Knowing that this movie was inspired by a true story underlines the intensity of it and shows us that the best stories are often written by life and fate.This movie goes straight to the top ten movies I have seen in my life and I have seen many movies and big classics. This movie is about romance, family, freedom, faith, cultures and dreams and comparable to the great Shawshank Redemption that broke all the records on this site. Needless to say that I slightly prefer Mao's last dancer to it and I hope that this underrated movie might attract your interest and get more popular one day. Everyone that liked Shawshank Redemption must watch this flick and won't be disappointed. This is easily the best movie of the year 2009.

jotix100 China's cultural revolution had a devastating effect on the way certain works of art were perceived by the people on top. Anything that had to do with the West, was deemed not proper and therefore, not fit for the masses. Ballet, a classical dance expression, became a vehicle for propaganda, as the higher ups wanted the works presented in a revolutionary manner, in tone and content.A young man, Li Cunxin, showed an innate talent for ballet. Coming from a poor family, he had almost no chances to pursue a career as a dancer, let alone to have been singled out to go to America to study for a limited period with the Houston Ballet, under Ben Stevenson's artistic direction, gave him an opportunity, first to study, and then, to shine as a gifted soloist that conquered the hearts of whoever saw him dance.Li Cunxin got caught in between his loyalty to his birth country and what he wanted to accomplish as an artist with a great gift to give the audiences that flocked to watch him perform. After making his decision, Li lived to experience his dream, not without sacrificing his desire to be in both places, but was not allowed to be.An inspirational film by Bruce Beresford, the Australian director that has had a string of hits in America. Based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin, and adapted by Jan Sardi, this production gets a great look from its creators, who clearly that plays with the viewer's emotions as it unfolds on the screen. There have been other great ballet films, but "Mao's Last Dancer" resonates with audiences thanks to Mr. Beresford's intelligent take on the dancing world.Chi Cao plays the title role as an adult. His dancing impresses because it almost appears to be effortless. Bruce Greenwood playing Mr. Stevenson is one of his best roles in the cinema. Joan Chen, Kyle MacLachlan, Amanda Schull, Camilla Vergotis, and the rest of the supporting cast do a good job for Mr. Beresford, in a film that shows the indestructible will of a man that wanted to bring joy through his dancing. Peter James photographs the production in all its splendor as different ballet pieces are performed.