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First Position (2011)
unfortunately stereotypical and predictably happy
First Position was filmed in America in 2011, and follows young ballerinas competing for awards, job contracts and scholarships in the Youth America Grand Prix (an annual competition that awards the best dancers the opportunity to train professionally and pursue a career within the dance industry).
Most striking about this documentary is the effort put in by the families, trainers and dancers. Everyone knows that ballet training is difficult and a momentous life commitment, but the film captures all the emotional involvement and strain it puts on family life and the dancers' young bodies, the pressure to make the financial commitment worth it and the effect on their self-worth and pride.
Michaela DePrince's story is quite beautiful. Adopted from Sierra Leone after her father was murdered in the civil war, and her mother died of starvation, she arrived in New Jersey, America where she was encouraged to do whatever she wanted – and that was to dance. She tells us her inspiration came from a photo of a ballerina that she found in Sierra Leone and kept, and talks about the prejudice about her race being too muscular and not graceful enough to dance professionally, juxtaposed with the commitment of her parents and their joy stemming from her passion and happiness when she dances. Her final performance is perfectly gracious, despite injury, which makes her fight all the more inspiring.
Bess Kargman's film is unfortunately stereotypical and ends predictably happily. A longer focus on Jules, one young dancer quitting due to his heart not being in it as much as his sister Miko, would have given the film a little more depth. The disappointment of his mother is captured, but did this manifest into respect for her son's decision? Was his honesty and bravery eventually acknowledged? The heartache is clear but the emotional connection the audience spends an hour forging with the dancers isn't given opportunity to develop. The technicalities and pressure are the focus, and the positivity evoked at the ending, however lovely, takes away from the reality that most of these young people won't go on to work. The shots of their scabbed, broken, bruised feet are harrowing but merely glimpse at the harsh truth of the daunting career that they have fallen hopelessly in love with. First Position simply lacks grit.
Four:Play: The Vignettes, Michael & Jay - You Are Cordially Invited (2013)
An endearing attempt to destigmatise same-sex relationships
"Why do you keep calling it 'gay marriage'? It's not called 'gay going to the shops'
"
Four:Play is a rom-com – a gay rom-com about same-sex relationships and marriages, attempting to attack the stigma surrounding it by focusing mainly on love and the role of family. Presented at this event were vignettes and a pitch from director Bruno Collins and writer Craig Daniel Adams for a producer and more funding to make the concept into a full- length feature. Cineworld have already come on board to support its release.
The Vignettes are a triptych of short films that introduce the lead roles of the film. First, Michael (David Paisley) and Jay (Arron Blake) are interviewed for a magazine about their impending marriage. It is later explained that none of these scenes will appear in the actual film, which has an entirely separate script but will begin with this wedding day. Blake's Jay is impassioned and comfortable, while Paisley gives Michael a romantic, gentle quality that plays off one another well. The interviewee is also featured in this scene, powerfully portrayed by Olivia Hamilton (known for her role in Channel 4's Sugar Rush) as suitably ignorant at first.
Darren Lee Murphy introduces the character Albin, who is attempting to film an online dating video, which is entirely relatable and endearingly awkward. His cameraman (Ben Fensome) is the common thread between the scenes, forever appearing to capture the moments of young love. Fensome is the light relief, the comedy gold of the piece and is cast perfectly.
The sound quality of The Vignettes is poor, but can be forgiven due to its low budget and short filming time (a mere three days). Its angles are occasionally questionable and static, which in turn jars the script at points. The vision of the ultimate piece is inspired largely on Richard Curtis' work and attitude to love, and Craig Daniel Adams talks with a passionate, fuelled charm about his drive to make the film. Its attempt to destigmatise is appropriate and arguably needed in the current debate around gay marriage.
When asked how they wanted the audience to feel on leaving the film, the team simply asked for a relieving sigh and the same response you might feel when leaving a heterosexual rom- com film. Whether a production company sees this as an investment or not, one will just have to wait and see.
(Review from the screening event at Cineworld, Haymarket, London JULY 2013)
Den skaldede frisør (2012)
naturally charming and relatable
Arrow Films presents a Danish feature directed by Susanne Bier that brings together Trine Dyrholm and Pierce Brosnan as Ida, a woman battling with a cheating husband and the aftermath of chemotherapy, and widower Philip, protagonists in a romance that begins as they meet at their children's wedding.
The encounter takes place in Sorrento, Italy where Brosnan's character met his first wife who died several years before. The beauty and warmth of the setting naturally inspires a feeling of romance, but it all has a slight Mamma Mia air to it – minus the singing.
That aside, Bier instills a tenderness in Ida whose struggle with cancer functions as a sub plot, the focus being on her beauty and delicate, intelligent nature. Dyrholm is astonishing to look at on screen, and the grace that she brings to Ida is moving. Brosnan's Philip begins as a wounded, uptight businessman (recognisable from previous films like Remember Me,) but he gently and gradually weaves a vulnerability that proves his fine technique as an actor.
There are some glorious moments for Philip's desperate sister-in-law, Benedikte (Paprika Steen) as she is batted away in her attempts to woo Philip. Ida's husband Leif (Kim Bodnia) brings his new woman Tilde (Christiane Schaumburg-Muller) to the wedding unannounced, with both characters lending a comic naivety to the film. The reaction from Ida's children is a dream, particularly Kenneth (Micky Skeel Hansen) with his biting tongue and later, brilliantly well-placed left hook.
The focus of Love Is All You Need is of course on love, in a rom-com that is naturally charming and relatable. It doesn't sicken, and the story is plausible and raw. It explores sexuality, sensuality, and the nature of love in a way that is considerate and inquisitive. Susanne Bier has a clear vision with her directorial story, admitting that she is "very romantic" herself but insisting "you can't be heavy handed in a rom-com" – and this very human clarity works in the film's favour.
Emotionally engaging and a relatively easy watch, Love Is All You Need is subtitled, but not noticeably, with fluid scenes in English interjected throughout (our leading man understands Danish but never speaks it). It's gorgeously shot and a very open, appreciative film.