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Poster for Mao’s Last Dancer

Mao’s Last Dancer

Seen it?

2009 | 117 min | Drama, Romance

Weeknight Watchearly rating

Why it’s a Weeknight Watch

With a box office loss and little lasting buzz, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
Made for romantics. If you loved Amadeus or The Red Shoes, start here.
The mood
Warm and romantic.
The pace
Takes its time with its characters, at 1 hr 57 min.
What might put you off
Rated PG. Worth a look first if you have very young kids.

At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsSolid

    56% on Rotten Tomatoes, 55 on Metacritic

  • AudiencesSolid

    6.6 out of 10

  • AwardsBelow par

    1 win and 19 nominations from smaller awards and festivals

  • Box office & staying powerBelow par

    $24 million worldwide on a $25 million budget; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactBelow par

    About 30K people sought it out in the past year

Trailer

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Cast & crew

Directed by Bruce Beresford

  • Bruce GreenwoodBen Stevenson
  • Kyle MacLachlanCharles Foster
  • Joan ChenNiang
  • Chi CaoLi Cunxin - adult
  • Amanda SchullElizabeth Mackey
  • Wang ShuangbaoDia
  • Aden YoungDilworth
  • Jack ThompsonJudge Woodrow Seals
  • Penne Hackforth-JonesCynthia Dodds
  • Chengwu GuoLi Cunxin - teenage