Last year, I represented Sweden in the Oscars for Best International Film. The film "Then We Danced" was the same as me. I believe many people are puzzled, because the film's subject matter and actors are all from Georgia, a Central Asian country. Nothing to do with Sweden. It dawned on me when I learned about the background of director Levan Akin. The young director was born in Sweden, but his ancestral home is in Georgia, presumably he is the second generation of Georgian immigrants in Sweden. Such directors with cross-cultural and ethnic backgrounds often grasp the essence of two different cultures, thus producing unexpected works, such as "Border", "Under the Shadow", "Give Me Freedom", etc. Rare masterpiece.
In addition to being a director, Levan Akin himself is also a young dancer. He said that he saw the gay parade in Georgia was attacked by local homophobic elements in the archive, and then went to Georgia to learn about the situation with local LGBT organizations. This was inspired by this work. Obviously, he wants to trace his roots and history through this dance-themed film, and at the same time reflect and complain about the current discrimination and exclusion of LGBT people in Georgia.
As the plot of the film suggests, homosexuality is considered taboo in Georgia, and the film mentions that gay people who are caught will be sent to hospital for corrective treatment. In its traditional national dance, homosexuality is not allowed, and male dancers must have masculine movements in order to be selected as lead dancers. The director has arranged several dance demonstrations of the male lead, which powerfully depicts the process of his inner entanglement. The dance postures and movements also strongly imply his awakening to his own sexuality and consciousness. In the last dance of the film's climax, he boldly broke the traditional stereotyped masculine dance and created a set of feminine and beautiful movements, showing the young people's courage to break with tradition and the fearless attitude of resisting oppression, which really adds to the film. A lot of points.
The theme of the whole work and the idea of the plot arrangement are very clear. On the one hand, it is the protagonist's road to awakening homosexual consciousness, and on the other hand, it is a dance trial full of symbolic metaphors. The writing style of the emotional line is relatively conventional, and even some plots are similar to Call me by your name, which was a hit in previous years. In the middle, there is a plot about the male protagonist accidentally encountering a transgender person, which is too deliberate. Narrative and accusatory themes are too conventional, and not much new except for traditional Georgian folk dances. I feel that this film has gone a bit wrong. It should go to the Berlin Film Festival Panorama section to compete for the Teddy Bear Award. delicious.
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