Confession of Taste, or How I Loved a Movie I Was Supposed to Hate.
February 20 2011

The Pianobabbler loved Mao's Last Dancer. I'm racked with guilt as a result.

The film came out in 2009. Bruce Beresford directed it. He has a record of what some might call emotional, others sentimentalist, movies. Driving Miss Daisy. Tender Mercies. And Mao's Last Dancer.

Li Cunxin. Born to a large, poor family in Mao's China. Through opportunity and grinding effort, he becomes a top ballet dancer. He makes it to America. The dream. Li becomes a leading soloist in the Houston Ballet. In the end, he leaves China behind. Marries a Westerner. Yay. Hurrah. Love. Affirmation. Acceptance. Good triumphant. Tragedy averted. Mother made proud. Homeland humbled. And it's a true story.

The film won me over. Tears, laughs. If art is persuasion, this film is art.

After watching the movie the Pianobabbler, following habit, looked to see what the critics had to say. Trash. Trash, they said. Simplistic. Manipulative. Obvious.

And so, I am racked with guilt. I loved a film I wasn't supposed to love. I fell for a simplistic, manipulative, obvious movie.

But soft... why should the Pianobabbler be racked? Let's rack the critics instead.

I hold no membership in the Critics Are Evil Club. I've never looked to sweep the critical class away with the back of my dismissive hand. I value the critic's work, often constructive, usually enlightening.

On the other hand, feal obeisance is not my bag either. A majority critical response cannot trump an honest reaction. My honest reaction.

Never apologize for your tastes. Respect others, but do not make them your heartstrings' puppeteers.

This holds all the more for artists. We not only live with our tastes, but by them. If Bruce Beresford could have looked into the future before making Mao's Last Dancer, and foreseen the reviews he was to get, I do not doubt he would have done nothing differently. Rightly so.

Simplistic. Manipulative. Obvious. Mao's Last Dancer. A damn fine movie the Pianobabbler guiltlessly confesses he enjoyed.

The Pianobabbler has babbled.

The Pianobabbler is a RonDavisMusic production. The Pianobabbler's blog posts appear weekly at pianobabbler.com. Please remember to leave your comments and thoughts below. Subscribe to the RSS feed. And subscribe to RonDavisNews by clicking on the Mailing List link, above right. And follow us on Twitter.

blog comments powered by Disqus