Dancing Across Borders (2008)
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 22
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 9
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 145
My Rating
Movie Info
On a trip to Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia in January 2000, filmmaker Anne Bass came across a sixteen-year-old boy who moved her immensely with his amazing natural charm and grace as a dancer. A longtime devotee of the world of dance, Bass felt compelled to give this young boy the opportunity to leave his home and follow a dream that he could not yet have fully imagined. From the serene countryside of Southeast Asia to the halls of New York's School of American Ballet to the stage of the
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All Critics (22) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (9) | DVD (1)
The rehearsal footage of Sy is repetitive, but the peculiar dynamic between sponsor and protégé is fascinating.
Top CriticDo-gooder vanity projects don't come more self-aggrandizing than this.
There are times when the subject of a documentary transcends merely adequate filmmaking, and that is very much the case with Dancing Across Borders...
Sometimes with documentaries, the best intentions have a way of making decent people look bad. Dancing Across Borders is a dismaying case in point.
In carefully edited clips from his Cambodian years (brief mention is made of Pol Pot's devastating influence), as well as later performances in the United States, Bass demonstrates his stunning leaps and graceful partnering.
Informative and flavorful, though lacking in surprise, since Sar's evident sweetness and talent seem to be guiding him to acclaim from the beginning.
...includes more footage from the rehearsal hall than from the stage, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a dancer.
This is a film that ought to be watched by all youngsters hoping for a career in dance.
Less than an hour and a half long, it seems to take forever to end.
Have you ever listened to someone delightedly telling you a story and not realizing how badly he comes off in his own tale? That's the queasy sensation I got from the documentary Dancing Across Borders.
Dance fanatics will appreciate the story, as will fans of cross-culturalism in the arts. Let's leave all mention of exploitation of the exotic for another time and place.
You may want to strangle Bass with her couture capris, but Borders eventually becomes the inspirational film you suspect it meant to be all along.
The film is a wonderful mix of ballet rehearsals and performances, the saga of a young artist's struggle and success, and a personal story of dealing with cross-cultural conflict and resolution.
Twyla Tharp calls him "remarkable," and watching him do Harlequin in Balanchine's La Sonnambula, you can see why: he might not be a born ballet dancer, but he's a born performer.
It's a rare film that gives viewers the opportunity to watch an artist-in-training pretty much from square one, and "Dancing Across Borders" does just that.
Lacks probing interviews to highlight the tremendous cultural change, but Sy remains an engaging focus point and there are numerous performance sequences that ably demonstrate his growing accomplishments.
As subjects for documentaries go, a dancer who hasn't really done a whole lot with his life so far isn't, on paper, the most arresting story you can tell
The film spends an inordinate amount of time with people talking about what a good dancer Sy is, as opposed to showing him actually dancing.
Audience Reviews for Dancing Across Borders
Some previous reviews, in my humble opinion, are mainly
When one is present at an amazing miracle of serendipity between three souls the last place it's expected to happen is a documentary movie. However those three people, Anne, Olga and Sy, with a group of talented and patient friends and colleges, created this miracle, overflown by almost motherly love, tangible efforts and great vision. To watch a sincere and sacrificial process of creating from diamond in the raw a shining and elegant ballet star is a magic and uplifting expirience! Please, accept our deep appreciation for the fantastic hour in our lifes!
Some previous reviews, in my humble opinion, are mainly concerned with technicalities and becoming soulless!
Yakov T.
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