Break

See what I did there? I added a word to the title and the result is ... well what the movie is about (?). That is more or less, because this is not just about dancing. It is about freedom and it is about love too. Things to be expected many probably will say and yes this is predictable to a degree at least. Still the drama is very well drawn out and the story makes sense.

Our main character has flaws as has her love interest. Drama as some might call it (all will call it?). But you need that to make an enticing viewing and movie. The dance scenes, the other very important factor here, are very well choreographed and incorperated into the dramatical structure of the movie. If you are into dance movies, this will tickle your excitement bone ...

I was under the impression this movie was about breakdancing... It is not. It is however about dancing, stage performance, and i must admit it does contain some impressive dancing, especially the breakdancing, the stage performance is cool too... But it is not breakdancing.

This whole movie is about a dancer who has to make a stage performance for a... Thing... Anyway she goes to some city, and is inspired by breakdancing, and sets out to get a teacher. They have 3 weeks to make a performance, so they focus on making it unique... Which is funny because the movie is not. Unique that is.

The movie has weird pacing, it feels offbeat, the then story feels off too, it lacks motivation and emotion, you never really get a feel for the character or why they are pressuring this goal.

The goal that is set to be the ultimate goal is then defeated, to be replaced by a new goal... combined with the sup plot and drama.... So it all kinda feels ruched because it all has to happen in only 1 hour and 37 minutes

All in all i was left a bit disappointed by the lack of actual breakdancing and unfocused due to pacing. I did enjoy some of the movie, some of it was cool.

In Nflix's usual fashion, they don't bother to tell you it's a French film. It does have English audio but once I figured out it was dubbed I switched to the original French. This film is not complex enough to worry about large paragraphs of subtitles and the original voices are nicer (although the voice actors did a great job), plus French sounds so beautiful. I felt the film was quite slow and without much substance. There were too many long moments, to show emotion, that were inappropriate, especially while trying out for a big dance production. The lead actors were clearly not real dancers and those scenes were just part of the story as opposed to offering the viewer a wonderful performance. The camera chops up the visual too much in the effort to hide the fact these 2 can't really dance well. Their dancing was so filled with effort and clumsiness. The really great dancing was extremely limited but at least 2 fun break-dance battles with good choreography. This is not a dance film, it's just a drama about 2 dancers with personal challenges that manage to meet. But it is very romantic in the parts. There's a really beautiful song near the end (tourner la page essayer de vivre ) - it's called Vivre by Slimane.

I'm a sucker for dance movies and this one didn't disappoint, except for the final scene perhaps.

The acting is good and the way the film was shot is beautiful, someone really thought about the persepctive and angles of the camera.

The characters were believable and there wasn't anything "try hard" about it, which I sometimes find in dance movies.

Some of the dance scenes were really nice, but the final choreography didn't work for me, the dance was too edited and chopped, so I couldn't really see what the dancing was supposed to be.

On the whole I think the story of Lucie and Vincent was more prominent than the dancing, but that's alright by me, since the acting and story was so nice.

Definitely worth a watch!

Unlike many dance focused movies, this was complete with excellent dancing, believable acting, and good character development.

I wish more American dance movies had the realism Break has.

Both leads were very good. What is extremely rare is that their acting and dancing stand on their own. So many dancers of this caliber have trouble being believable as straight actors, but they are the exception.

I recognized the female lead, Sabrina Ouazani from a cute French Series called the Hookup Plan. Had no idea she was a dancer! She is adorable and hilarious in the Hookup Plan, so I figured there was nothing to lose by checking this movie out. What a nice surprise!

The male lead, Keven Mischel is absolutely exceptional. There is a scene where he is dancing on his own and IT IS RIVETING. I have never seen someone move like that and I have seen a plethora of dancers of all styles. He has his own language and it is quite special. And with all that, he is a very, very good actor. So rare to be at that high of a level at both disciplines. Interested in seeing him dance more. He is OUTSTANDING.

For anyone that enjoys gifted and special break dancers, this is not to be missed. There are some break/hip hop dancers that have supporting roles that are also well worth watching.

I would rate this higher if the story line wasn't lacking just a little in a couple places, especially in the beginning.