Break

I leave in French-speaking Switzerland so it wasn't difficult for me to watch this film in the cinema. I was entranced by the story, the characters, the music, the dancing... it went by quickly even though it was my first French language movie without subtitles! Stromae and his song deserve a special mention, but the actors playing the two main characters also do a fantastic job. I'm being vague about the plot because I think the less you know about it, the better: suffice it to say that it's a drama, that it features dancing (different styles) and that it packs a punch. Don't miss it!

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.

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.

Lucie, a dancer, has an accident. When she wakes up from her coma, she and her partner begin training for a dance performance. Along the way, she begins looking for her father, a path that could lead her to a life-changing love.

The opening scenes of dancing in the air, hanging from the building with ropes, beautiful and delicate, risky, falsely led me to believe that it would be a different film about dance, a big mistake, taking the trauma of the protagonist aside, the film rowed to nowhere, swam and died on the beach, boring, I lost interest in less than 15 minutes, but I went to the end, like a good cinephile, #SQN...