Harley & Katya

This documentary will not disappoint, even if you are not a fan of competitive ice skating.

The narrative is strong and interviews are well done and included with amazing footage of the pair training and competing. It also gives you a wonderful insight into the world of competitive ice skating in Australia and the battles the athletes have emotionally, physically and financially.

It is a wonderfully engaging documentary and I was fully captivated the whole time and sad to see it end.

It is also devastatingly sad to know what Katya was going through and what she had went through in her pursuit of excellence.

A definite must watch.

7.0 stars.

As I meander through this very very sad documentary, I can only think to myself: what a crying shame. We take the lives of spectacular athletes for granted. These are people.

Katya had a lot of pressure in her life and apparently it was too much to handle. Add to this the fact that she had multiple organ problems and possibly alcohol induced epilepsy? From what I've read, alcohol induced epilepsy is just another way of saying: severe alcoholism. The way that she died... How she was alone in a cold place in a cold country, where she might have been under-appreciated... I've said this before, I repeat it: so many great athletes, politicians, celebrities, heroes, have died lonely and disillusioned by what they thought was a medical comrade..."na-zda-roh-vye?" Not so much.

I love ice skating, I love the competitions, I love the couples and the dance partners. So I have a certain prejudice in loving this brilliantly crafted documentary film.

Well researched, well investigated, delving into interviews, the life of young children who have a passion, a huge passion where their entire life is devoted to one thing.

In this case it is a sport. And the drive, the ecstasy of the accomplishments met with the difficulties of the mistakes and failures, the learning curve.

The idea that we don't take care of your children in their bountiful desire to express themselves be it in sport or art or or or - where funding is an issue and money an obstacle.

I don't want to say anything more about this. I suggest if you don't know anything about their story - then just watch the film without too much pre-research.

Bless those who helped Harley and Katya and who worked with them through the good times and difficult times.

Bring a box of tissues to your screening.

"Harley & Katya" by Selina Miles is a feature-length documentary. It's a well-funded documentary (by Australian standards). It's a sports documentary on the surface, but it goes much further than that; it goes deep into the world of figure skating and into the culture of competition surrounding the sport.

Harley, from Blacktown in Sydney, is struggling to find a matched partner; his Russian-born coaches, experts in figure skating, find him a good fit, Katya. What follows is a journey that leads to Russia and around the world as the two of them, Harley and Katya climb the world rankings.

Both Harley and Katya knew nothing about each other's homelands, and when Katya decides to come to Australia to train, she is not sure if it is Austria or Australia. This is not a love story, but you will most likely fall in love with Harley and Katya, who quickly become a figure skating powerhouse.

Want to read more, google - "perspective documentary reviews"

I knew nothing about this pair when I first started watching this documentary, I just liked ice skating and thought I'd give it a shot. Ultimately by the end I was absolutely heartbroken for them both. Let down and failed by the adults that should have been supporting them, they were used up and tossed away. The families were left holding the pieces together, and ultimately they didn't receive the support they needed either.

These kids, and their families deserved so much better. Katya deserved so much better.

I just hope that a lot has changed since this pair were in the spotlight, but I'm guessing it really hasn't.