Pássaros de Liberdade

The story of this movie does not exist, there are some moments of astonishment but nothing more.

There is no story to follow, there is nothing to rely on to make a plot twist, turning them into moments of wonder, which cause curiosity and are the highlight of the script. There is never a development of each character, there are many characters that end up discarding and the end is left to interpretation. However, there are things to highlight such as the performances, especially that of Kristine Froseth, the choreography and the coordination are good.

It's a shame that the talent of those involved is wasted by a script so lazy and boring that it says absolutely nothing.

The strongest part of Birds of Paradise is for sure the visual quality. Sadly, the story rides on every cliche regarding ballet I can think of (relationship drama, sex, drugs, total over the board resentment and competition, rich parents being emotional wrecks and evil entities, maestros with a notion to sadism, and I could go on and on). I just wondered the whole time when the girls (and boys) got time to do their study and training - remember, the setting is an elite dancer school. Also the questions between being an artist or following the rule of traditional classic dance is the wrong question - if I want to paint a piece in the style of Rembrandt I can't do action painting techniques - modern dance, classic dance, freestyle, whatever, it's up to you to chose the path you want to follow. I watched a few documentaries on the matter of elite ballet schools and groups and I did not get the impression that those dancers or teachers were maniacs, drug addicts and so on. Anyway, acting is good and the cinematography did hold my attention, was a real pleasure - last but not least, a better crafted and less stereotyped plot, and Birds of Paradise could have been a really good movie. Verdict: compared to Black Swan it is obvious that Birds of Paradise lacks of depth and originality story-wise. Exact rate: 5 + 1 bonus for the visuals only.

Competition brings out the best in some people... but it can destroy others.

'Black Cygnet'.

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.