Birds of Paradise

This could have been a really good film. A masterpiece even. I hate that it missed that chance because it didn't exactly know what to focus on, what message it wanted to put out there, it is giving me the feeling as if it was not edited right.

The film had its shining moments and the acting is superb especially Kristine Frøseth's performance - just wow. She is so believable in her portrayal of Marine.

But the rest of it, most importantly the storyline felt rushed, like there were too many things going on and not enough time to tell them. Themes and plots were being juggled all at the same time and it it did not come out well.

I wish the directiom and the writing have been focused on the darker themes of betrayal, self sabotage, the grit and competition, the mentality and toxic environment of ballet, if it was able to balance the themes well and have given it the time to simmer then this would be a legend of a film.

Instead I found myself confused having to digest new pieces of information about the characters watching it all unfold too fast whilst still trying to process what had happened a few scenes back.

The choreography is brilliant ut ther ewer enit enough dancing shown, the cinematography will take you there but then once you the story becomes lacking. We are gifted the chemistry of the two main leads but even that was not maximized.

It felt as though I went to eat at a restaurant expecting to have a good meal that will fill me but found the dishes uncooked and left feeling even hungrier.

This is very well shot with good camera moves. The score and production design help the experience so much and are effective. The storytelling is nuanced. The direction was on point. I really enjoyed the way the information was delivered.

The tone was great. Sometimes I expected it to go some ways but it surprised me.

Sometimes the movie moved between genres which I thought made the storytelling better and helped the experience. The performances were great too.

The choreography was amazing. It was beautiful but it also was a big part of the storytelling and was meaningful and symbolic and poetic.

It does what it wanted to do in an effective way imo.

This is personal but the movie made me think about greatness in our society, and what it even means. Maybe there are more ways to interpret the word. I think with paying attention it is not hard to understand it during the first watch, but I also enjoyed the second watch a lot too.

Reads as a cliche, that attempts to be an original. The attempt succeeded, in humanising the expected villains of the story. It examines the full variety of motivations of goal driven people and you find yourself rooting for people to find the best version of themself. It manages to reflect who we are, when we are in similar situations. It is not a fairytale in the end, and realistically dark when it should be.

Expect a rich kid poor kid story that is realistic.

I watched this movie more for the reason to see if it was anything new or different.

Unfortunately it ran along the same lines as every movie that has been done regarding balllet. As in there are always the mean gals and the nice gals competing for a dance prize that only 1 gal and 1 boy can win , maybe the slight glimpses of the backgrounds of the main characters may differ from previous movies but essentially it is much the same!

The only difference that I can see is nobody dies or is killed by the end so that I suppose is a slight twist . However not enough to make this movie stand out from the likes of Black swan and all the other generic ballet movies.

Considering the amount of fodder on Prime video, I was expecting mostly filler and there was a point where I asked myself what the movie was actually supposed to be about?

And did it rise above that and finally mean anything? No, it didn't, but I watched it all the way through and kept on hoping for something bigger and deeper, which is all you can ask for, even though you don't necessarily get it.

Beautiful people, not too cheesy, some pretty good acting, a few good songs and mostly great presentation. The film didn't try too hard and I liked it for its simplicity and eroticism and for not handing everything out on a plate.

An entertaining watch that failed to hit major highs because the core story just isn't strong enough, but still classy and subtle enough to maintain a steady 7/10.