Film: Hope Dances

Today - well, you won't believe it, I was to attend a Meetup. Finally, they had something I could attend! First in six weeks. Up in the Cheap Seats were watching Hope Dances, again on Amazon Prime - and this time, it's available in Ireland. All right then.. It's not very highly rated, but I'm starved of talking to people from the outside world! so, happy to join.

And wouldn't you know it - buffering issues caused a severe delay. I knew I'd be late joining the call afterwards, but thought maybe I could duck out of the film before the end - I wasn't too enamoured of the start. And then it started to get interesting.. so I decided to stick with it. Which, sadly, meant I missed the call. Jeez, I really don't have any luck with Meetup these days, do I?!

So anyway, this is a film about (gee) a little girl called Hope, who, eh, dances. Well, ok. Thing is, it's billed as a film about how she's torn between her mother's ballet ambitions for her, and her father's softball ambitions for her (yes, it's American). She's got great potential for each, you see, and loves each - and each parent thinks that their focus is the right one for her. Naturally, as she progresses in each, they start to get in each other's way, and she has to choose - and naturally, given the title, you can guess that she chooses ballet.

In fact, only the first half of the film deals with this conflict - after that, it's ballet all the way. And the film improves mightily for it. The bit with the warring parents really didn't work for me - there's actually no dramatic tension, as everybody's just so darn nice to each other. I much preferred it once her focus fastened on ballet, and some real tensions appeared - injury, high standards demanded of her, competitiveness among classmates, stage fright.. Perhaps the marketers thought it'd be more palatable to sell it with a mention of softball, rather than portraying it as a straightforward ballet film.

But I ended up unexpectedly enjoying it. The ballet sequences are lovely, and as they're performing The Nutcracker, there's plenty from that - and a beautiful ballet it is. So, one for ballet fans, I think. One thing bothered me - nary a mention was there of school, or homework.. I mean, the kid is 11! She can't have left school by the time she takes all this up - and yet all her time is taken up with ballet classes (or softball), or rehearsals, or goofing off with her friends - what, no maths homework? Weird. Minor quibble though, and I did enjoy it.

Tomorrow's not showing anything on Meetup that appeals - so I thought I might catch up with something that the same group watched yesterday. The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is available for free on YouTube - and is, indeed, a musical.

Very excited about next Saturday though - The Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from Wednesday to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link, shortly beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott..