Mao’s Last Dancer is quite well done for what it is. I don’t love this kind of thing, generally speaking, but I found this enjoyable. The story is not super interesting, perhaps, but it does manage to hold your attention. It’s pretty even handed about the communist / capitalist thing, siding against communism (insofar as the main character does) but stopping short of presenting them as evil buffoons. Pacing is decent, and the dialog is not bad, limited mainly by the subject matter. I do wish the dancing had been filmed better, however – the dance scenes come across a bit flat and unimpressive somehow. The use of occasional slow-mo in the filming of these scene definitely did not help matters.

I always liked Bruce Greenwood, who in this film plays the director of the Houston Ballet, Ben Stevenson. He is very warm on screen, and he does an excellent job with this character, so excellent that he holds certain weak sections of the film together with his presence and acting skill. Amanda Schull is a personal favorite of mine from her performance as the lead in Center Stage, a film that I have long felt is drastically underrated. I’m sure Schull is a fine dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, but she is also a surprisingly decent actress (in this performance, she’s as good as Amanda Seyfried, at least.) And she still looks great, 10 years after Center Stage. I’ll never understand why she did not become a film star – maybe she wasn’t that interested, who knows? Anyway, it’s wonderful to see her years later in this quality supporting role, which she handles with her usual naturalness and earnestness. The fellow playing Li Cunxin was pretty convincing in a role that could have been hammed up.

I recommend Mao’s Last Dancer. It streams on Netflix, so there’s no reason not to give it a try!