MAO'S LAST DANCER Movie Trailer & Pictures
Check out the trailer and a couple of pictures for MAO'S LAST DANCER starring Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Chi Cao, Amanda Schull, and directed by Bruce Beresford.
Mao's Last Dancer is part of the Special Presentations lineup at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
Mao's Last Dancer Synopsis: Born in 1961, Li lived with his six brothers and impoverished parents in China's Shandong Province. His family was destined to be labourers, but when recruiters from Madame Mao's ballet academy in Beijing swept through his single-room school in search of untapped talent to mould into the future leading lights of the Cultural Revolution, eleven-year-old Li was selected, and committed to a strange new life of stringent training, both artistic and ideological. At first, the experience overwhelmed, but when an audacious teacher introduced him to the works of great international performers (via concealed videotapes, no less), Li (excellently played as a young adult by dancer Chi Cao) realized dance's true revolutionary potential.
Practising by candlelight and jumping up stairs with sandbags tied to his ankles to build his strength while his peers slept, Li became the school's top dancer. Discovered by Ben Stevenson (played by Canada's Bruce Greenwood), the artistic director of the Houston Ballet and part of the first American cultural delegation to Communist China, Li in turn was one of the first exchange students allowed by Mao's regime to go to America. After a brief bout with culture shock – Houston's malls and so-called Chinese restaurants were alien spheres to him – he quickly fell in love with America's freedom and one of its winsome daughters. When his exchange ended, Li refused to return to China, leading to a dramatic standoff at the consulate that made headlines across the United States.
Watch the Mao's Last Dancer trailer below.
MANURE Movie Pictures & Teaser Trailer - Non-Competition Sundance 2009
MANURE is another movie worth noting at Sundance. Just take a look at those pictures, those colors are amazing. That alone makes me want to check it out.
Synopsis: When a tragic accident ends the life of Mr. Rose, the genius behind Rose's Manure Company, the livelihood of its loyal fleet of salesmen threatens to go, as they say, into the toilet. Enter estranged daughter Rosemary (Téa Leoni), a high-class- cosmetics salesgirl, who steps in to take control. She is not sure she has a nose for the family business, but she is determined to make foul into profit. Little does she know that a ruthless, slick-talking fertilizer rep (Kyle MacLachlan) is plotting a takeover. Whether she likes it or not, she must trust her top salesman, Patrick Fitzpatrick (Billy Bob Thornton), to devise a plan to regain Rose's rightful position on top of the heap. The Polish brothers have created a wholly original, decidedly irreverent, yet enchantingly classic comic adventure from the 1960s. Sassy dialogue gives Manure flair, but it is the period design with its sepia palate of painted backdrops that conjures up scaffolds and wind machines just off camera. The Polish brothers are complete originals, and their all-star cast stylishly matches their campy hybrid hijinks. Thornton masters just the right tone, while Leoni's nostalgic throwback performance showcases her unique brand of physical comedy. In the Polish brothers' capable hands, Manure fills the screen with scene after scene of wonderfully rendered, pure cinematic imagination.
Director: Michael Polish
Screenwriters: Mark Polish and Michael Polish
Cast: Téa Leoni, Billy Bob Thornton, Kyle MacLachlan
Watch the trailer and more pictures from Manure below.
