No question the boy is wonderful and deserves for his story to be told, but so many mixed feelings about this movie that unfortunately lacks depth.
From the first opening scenes it feels like a feel good diversity checkmark for a big studio. We don't learn much about the boy (how did he discover ballet and what did it take him to learn to dance? Is he doing well at his regular school? How will he cope with school program in the UK?) and his family (what do his parents do for a living? How did they support his passion? What is going on between two brothers?), the scenes are a pretty visual but narrative-wise they feel empty. Adapting to a whole new country should be overwhelming, especially in such a competitive environment with big dreams at stake but it looks fairy-talish and only somewhat challenging. And that brings the ethical question I couldn't get rid of while going through the extreme close-ups of the movie.
How do you film emotional scenes with such a child without prying too much, how far do you push to tell a story, and essentially how much can you communicate without asking questions and directing? How does a camera being there affect behavior of his peers and what is performed by people around him just because there is a camera following him everywhere?
From the first opening scenes it feels like a feel good diversity checkmark for a big studio. We don't learn much about the boy (how did he discover ballet and what did it take him to learn to dance? Is he doing well at his regular school? How will he cope with school program in the UK?) and his family (what do his parents do for a living? How did they support his passion? What is going on between two brothers?), the scenes are a pretty visual but narrative-wise they feel empty. Adapting to a whole new country should be overwhelming, especially in such a competitive environment with big dreams at stake but it looks fairy-talish and only somewhat challenging. And that brings the ethical question I couldn't get rid of while going through the extreme close-ups of the movie.
How do you film emotional scenes with such a child without prying too much, how far do you push to tell a story, and essentially how much can you communicate without asking questions and directing? How does a camera being there affect behavior of his peers and what is performed by people around him just because there is a camera following him everywhere?