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So you think you can just make a dance movie and call it BL?! HAH!
Before this came out, people were hopeful that a prestige BL movie had finally been made. Hoping that this could give the genre a boost in the market and provide better quality BL with better investment and high-profile actors attached to them. This is not a prestige BL movie, I'm sorry. This is a prestige dance movie, which is great, but it was not gay enough for that label to be its selling point. There are two steamy scenes and very little active romance in between, and all that was already spoiled in the trailer. Yeah, what you already saw was literally it.
They just wasted all that passion, desire, and built-up tension and it all went nowhere. Or it went somewhere but it was like a volcano erupted into a teacup! The potential was forced into a form that was smaller than its force...you know?!
I was expecting them to really dig their nails into the flesh of this and give us something raw, hot, and passionate. Don't get me wrong, there is sexual tension. There is chemistry, there is romance...but they didn't commit to the bit. They chickened out, I feel. Or maybe not chickened out per se, they just put most of their attention on a different part of the plot, instead.
If we talk about the dance, though, they committed 150%. The actors did such a great job with the dance; they all worked so hard, and the main plot does the dance justice. My knowledge of dance is limited to SYTYCD, okay? So I'm not an expert but to my unprofessional eyes, they looked good! They even pulled faces like real ballroom dancers do and there was so much detail to the dance parts that were executed so well. There is even a blink and you'll miss it nod to the racism that Asian dancers have to bear and I loved that they acknowledged it, although subtly.
But for the romance part...
So this movie is mainly dedicated to the dichotomy of these two dancers who do not simply dance different dance styles but also live by completely contrasting philosophies. It's like a clash of class, culture, philosophy, body, and mind. And yes, the passion and push and pull they maintain throughout their interactions is all there, both in the dance and as a catalyst for the romance. However, I feel like there was a bit of a disconnect between the establishment of these differences (and conveying the seduction that exists by playing with these dichotomies) and actually textualising that with a romantic or sexual relationship coming to fruition. It's two hours of slowly shoving you to the edge and then no payoff. It was like the notes of a chord left unfinished. And I'm not referring to the "open" ending. What I mean is that as they give in to the temptations of each other, the plot pulls all the way back, and the final third of the film just doesn't deliver the sort of conclusion that was set up in the beginning.
Overall, it was a nice movie to watch but I had expected a lot more romance and passion and I felt like this was more a technical dance movie and less about using the dance as a way to show these characters interact and fall for each other. It was like the means became the end. I had expected the dance to be a tool for the romance but it seems like this was "a dance for dance and romance for dance too", sort of stroy.
I also felt some elements, like the journalists and other dancers to be a bit awkwardly developed.
I did, however, love the female partners. They were so sweet and I was rooting for the girls.
Takeuchi Ryoma's acting was a standout, too. He embodies this free-spirited, violently passionate dancer so well. I didn't hate Machida Keita's acting either but it was slightly stiff. He had amazing moments of micro-acting but some moments felt too dettached. And I thought the two had such a sizzling chemistry; they did so much with just their eyes. The film sort of wasted their potential. The actors gave them so much ammunition but the movie itself didn't kindle the fire.
Still, this is a stylized movie with great acting and an engaging plot so I think it's definitely worth a watch.
They just wasted all that passion, desire, and built-up tension and it all went nowhere. Or it went somewhere but it was like a volcano erupted into a teacup! The potential was forced into a form that was smaller than its force...you know?!
I was expecting them to really dig their nails into the flesh of this and give us something raw, hot, and passionate. Don't get me wrong, there is sexual tension. There is chemistry, there is romance...but they didn't commit to the bit. They chickened out, I feel. Or maybe not chickened out per se, they just put most of their attention on a different part of the plot, instead.
If we talk about the dance, though, they committed 150%. The actors did such a great job with the dance; they all worked so hard, and the main plot does the dance justice. My knowledge of dance is limited to SYTYCD, okay? So I'm not an expert but to my unprofessional eyes, they looked good! They even pulled faces like real ballroom dancers do and there was so much detail to the dance parts that were executed so well. There is even a blink and you'll miss it nod to the racism that Asian dancers have to bear and I loved that they acknowledged it, although subtly.
But for the romance part...
So this movie is mainly dedicated to the dichotomy of these two dancers who do not simply dance different dance styles but also live by completely contrasting philosophies. It's like a clash of class, culture, philosophy, body, and mind. And yes, the passion and push and pull they maintain throughout their interactions is all there, both in the dance and as a catalyst for the romance. However, I feel like there was a bit of a disconnect between the establishment of these differences (and conveying the seduction that exists by playing with these dichotomies) and actually textualising that with a romantic or sexual relationship coming to fruition. It's two hours of slowly shoving you to the edge and then no payoff. It was like the notes of a chord left unfinished. And I'm not referring to the "open" ending. What I mean is that as they give in to the temptations of each other, the plot pulls all the way back, and the final third of the film just doesn't deliver the sort of conclusion that was set up in the beginning.
Overall, it was a nice movie to watch but I had expected a lot more romance and passion and I felt like this was more a technical dance movie and less about using the dance as a way to show these characters interact and fall for each other. It was like the means became the end. I had expected the dance to be a tool for the romance but it seems like this was "a dance for dance and romance for dance too", sort of stroy.
I also felt some elements, like the journalists and other dancers to be a bit awkwardly developed.
I did, however, love the female partners. They were so sweet and I was rooting for the girls.
Takeuchi Ryoma's acting was a standout, too. He embodies this free-spirited, violently passionate dancer so well. I didn't hate Machida Keita's acting either but it was slightly stiff. He had amazing moments of micro-acting but some moments felt too dettached. And I thought the two had such a sizzling chemistry; they did so much with just their eyes. The film sort of wasted their potential. The actors gave them so much ammunition but the movie itself didn't kindle the fire.
Still, this is a stylized movie with great acting and an engaging plot so I think it's definitely worth a watch.
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