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Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Chi Cao, Shuangbao Wang ... see more see more... , Chengwu Guo , Huang Wen Bin , Aden Young , Madeleine Eastoe , Camilla Vergotis , Penne Hackforth-Jones , Jack Thompson , Amanda Schull , Chris Kirby , Ferdinand Hoang , Zhang Su , Gang Jiao , Steven Heathcote

The true story of Li Cunxin and his journey from rural China to the bright lights of ballet stardom is brought to the screen in this biographical drama from director Bruce Beresford. In 1972, 11-year-... read more read more...old Li Cunxin (Huang Wenbin) is living with his parents, Niang (Joan Chen) and Dia (Wang Shuangbao), and six siblings while attending a tumbledown school in Shandog province. Li's life changes when representatives of Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy visit his school, and he is one of several students believed to have promise as a dancer. While life at the school is difficult for Li and many of the instructors are harsh and unforgiving, Chan (Zhang Su) takes the boy under his wing and grooms him into one of the school's star pupils. In 1981, Li (now played by Chi Cao) is chosen to travel to the United States as part of a student exchange with the Houston Ballet Company. Under the tutelage of Ben Stevenson (Bruce Greenwood), the company's director, Li impresses his peers and is given a key role in a televised production of Die Fledermaus; despite an attack of stage fright, Li's performance is a triumph. As Li came to love life in the United States, he also falls for an attractive young dancer, Elizabeth (Amanda Schull), and when his time in America draws to a close, he makes the decision to leave his old life behind and pursue a life of personal and creative freedom in America. Also starring Kyle MacLachlan and Camilla Vergotis, Mao's Last Dancer received its world premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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79% liked it

5,510 ratings

Critics

55% liked it

73 critics

PG, 1 hr. 57 min.

Directed by: Bruce Beresford

Release Date: August 20, 2010

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DVD Release Date: May 3, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (571)

  • itsjustme2004
    August 21, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    This is one of those must see based-on-a-true-story movies, even if you aren't into ballet. Beautiful. Entertaining. Inspiring.
  • jennifxu
    April 29, 2011
    jennifxu
    Oh my god, this is such a bad, melodramatic movie. I wanted to watch this because I thought it was a documentary, but Mao's Last Dancer couldn't be further from that.
  • romy861
    October 10, 2010
    romy861
    Enjoyed watching it once, but don't think it is one I will be watching again. Acting is kind of bad, but I guess some of these were cast more for their dancing skills, which are excellent. I found it more interesting in modern day than the flashbacks, but it is okay, I guess. I... read moret did seem to be a bit dumbed down for an American audience, (not sure if that is a fair comment or not), but I do watch quite a lot of foreign movies, and this to me seemed a bit lacking.
  • deano
    August 3, 2010
    deano
    The true story was deeply moving film and showed how disciplined a Chinese guy must be in order to become a great dancer.
    Li Cunxin is played magnificently by Chi Cao (as an adult) as well as Chengwu Guo (as a teenager). Chi Cao, a highly recognised ballerino in his own right, m... read moreust receive the bulk of the accolades for what is truly a seamless breakthrough performance by a first time actor. The rest of the cast are also fantastic including Bruce Greenwood who plays the difficult and complex part of a slightly camp Ballet Director who must confront his own values.
  • hypathio7
    September 27, 2010
    hypathio7
    Fish out of water tale as Chi Cao playing Li Cunxin finds his way through the culture shock of moving from communist China to capitalist America. He grows up in regimented, propaganda filled, government controlled China in the 1970's. He is trained as a ballet dancer and in the... read more early 1980's he arrives in Texas to dance with the Dallas ballet. Lies are also an important theme of the story.

    The ballet segments are beautiful. However the plot seems rushed as so much time is condensed. The most inspiring parts of the story are quiet brief when Li's father tells him a tale about a frog and a toad and when Li's favorite teacher tells him about the archer. I felt like dance was given the focus at the exclusion of dramatic character development at times, but now thinking back on the movie I remember plenty of instances of dramatic conflict that will keep one interested as the movie progresses.
  • chihoe
    May 1, 2010
    chihoe
    "Mao's Last Dancer" chronicles the life of Li Cunxin who grew up during the heyday of China's Cultural Revolution in a poor rural village and was picked to join the Beijing Dance Academy. While in Houston on an exchange, he defected to America, leaving his family and the life he ... read morehad known behind, and eventually becoming a world-renown ballet dancer. The film got to me and I weeped, as did many people in the theatre. It also elicited plenty of responses from the audience throughout the film due to its depictions of society and politics in 1970s China, and the portrayal of a family torn apart and the perseverance and athleticism in training for ballet. If you plan on watching, prepare to be emotional by the end of it.
  • panta2
    October 12, 2009
    panta2
    I read all sorts of critics writting about this movie and most of them are concentrated analyzing Li as a person... well, I came to watch a movie and I enjoyed it. That was a smooth movie, with good acting and dancing, nice photography, strong hand directorship (as I'll expect fr... read moreom a movie about Chinese dancer) and a screenplay which was following the book the best possible way.
  • merlynsprankling
    February 11, 2010
    merlynsprankling
    How do you distil the journey of a life that takes place over 25 years into a film that's well under two hours?

    Mao's Last Dancer is a biopic story of Li Cunxin's journey and his escape from peasant boy in Mao's Cultural Revolution to become a world famous ballet dancer. Unde... read morer Mao's communist regime Li 's chosen to become a student at the Beijing dance academy. In 1979, Li's picked in a cultural exchange by Houston Ballet's director Ben Stevenson (Bruce Greenwood) to train with them in Texas. In the US, he soon begins to find his niche in the ballet company. He falls for an aspiring dancer Liz (Amanda Schull) and decides to fight for his new-found freedom.

    I was told that the film was reduced from 680,000 words to 160,000 words, which could be a paintufl process for the author himself.

    Nevertheless, Mao's last Dancer is beautifully shot, particularly in it's dance sequences. Beresford uses a unique blend of live action and slow motion capture shots to fully encapsulate the performances. The ballet scenes are so well choreographed that they add a level of authenticity to the film.

    Inasmuch as the dialogue is delivered less convincingly than the pirouettes, it's rather easier to forgive overly earnest acting than it would've been to ignore clumsy dancing, particularly if you fancy going to the cinema to see the ballet.

    Those that have read the book may be a little reluctant to see the film, in fear that it will ruin their experience of the book. Maybe yes, maybe not. But I still believe that the film still strikes a chord. There's something deep within Li that makes his story quite compelling...
  • fb100001786722043
    September 2, 2011
    fb100001786722043
    'Mao's Last Dancer' (2010) is fascinating, beautiful, and a perfect movie to watch if you want your heart to fly.
  • mvieaddict
    November 24, 2010
    mvieaddict
    Mao's Last Dancer was a true life story of ballet dancer, Lu Cunxin. The movie showed his youth, his education, his career path and the Communist China. An opportunity to complete his ballet studies in USA, with the Houston Ballet presented him another possibilities of life. Diff... read moreerent stories of Lu's relationships with his family, his first ballet instructor, his first wife and his dance partner who later became his second wife were shown in a narrative way.The movie showed these relationship in more ways and made the results a deeply moving film. The heart breaking scene of his reunion with his parents just as he finished his last performance. were very emotional scenes that characterize this movie. The pacing was not bad, there was drama, but it did not dragged on that long.It managed to succeed good as true life story and very enjoyable to watch.

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan F. Richards
September 21, 2010
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com

Bruce Beresford's biopic of Li Cunxin, the Chinese ballet dancer who defected while on a student visa in Houston in 1981, is sometimes the movie equivalent of Oscar Meyer cold cuts. But the dancing is... Full Review

Peter Brunette
September 10, 2010
Peter Brunette, Hollywood Reporter

Feel-good movie about a Chinese dancer presses all the right buttons.

Tom Long
August 27, 2010
Tom Long, Detroit News

Lovely and astounding, Mao's Last Dancer is a modern epic of art and ambition triumphing oppression. Full Review

Peter Rainer
August 27, 2010
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

Too often, though, the film plods along on the ground. Full Review

Andrea Gronvall
August 27, 2010
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

Ballet star Li Cunxin's best-selling autobiography gets a curiously tepid treatment in this 2009 adaptation by director Bruce Beresford. Full Review

Manuel Mendoza
August 27, 2010
Manuel Mendoza, Dallas Morning News

Ballet dancer Chi Cao does a great job of capturing both Li's chops on the stage and his sincerity and culture shock in the face of American opulence. Full Review

Richard Nilsen
August 26, 2010
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic

Hollywood has a long history of turning highbrow art into middlebrow mush, and Mao's Last Dancer is just one more kick dancer in that long line. Full Review

Lou Lumenick
August 23, 2010
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Recounts the true story of Chinese ballet star Li Cunxin's defection to the US in the schmaltziest TV-movie terms imaginable. Full Review

Rebecca J. Ritzel
August 20, 2010
Rebecca J. Ritzel, Washington Post

Many films have portrayed the rigors of ballet training, but none will make viewers wince quite like Mao's Last Dancer. Full Review

Mike Hale
August 20, 2010
Mike Hale, New York Times

The final image -- a freeze frame of a pas de deux staged to resemble a triumphal Communist poster -- perfectly captures the film's overall effect: it's strenuously brainless. Full Review

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