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New Carlos Acosta movie: Yuli


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  • 5 months later...

Yuli has just been released here (described as "inspired by" the life of Carlos Acosta and his autobiography). I saw it yesterday and found it very personal and profoundly moving. I hadn’t read Carlos Acosta’s autobiography or even followed him much during his career and so wasn’t quite prepared for how much the film has affected me. Wow just wow and huge respect to him for being so open as well as to those involved in creating the film for capturing not only his story but also life and events in Cuba at the time.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 weeks later...

I saw this yesterday and I would completely echo Duck's comments above. A terrific film - absorbing, beautifully filmed, extremely moving, and superbly acted. I was left in a conflicted state at the end - very sad for what Acosta lost and suffered, and very uplifted both by his achievements and by the enduring love that permeates the film.

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It was a very well done film and very much enjoyed. Incredible to see what he has achieved and how he got there. Very emotional and moving, especially to see his family watching his Lausanne performance on TV all the way from Cuba. 

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  • alison changed the title to New Carlos Acosta movie: Yuli
On ‎19‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 16:58, Lynette H said:

This is on at Sadler's Wells on 6 May at 6pm. 

 

https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2019/yuli-the-carlos-acosta-story/

 

There's a post show talk with Acosta and the director. 

 

(It's on at the Linbury too, on a different date, but I think that is sold out).

 

Tickets still available for Sadler's Wells, I see.

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  • 3 months later...

This film is now available on Amazon Prime and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  What a story!  It is always interesting to me to learn about the human being behind the dazzling on-stage dancer, and few would have such a background as Carlos Acosta.  Hats off to him, and to the film makers and actors.  Thoroughly recommended if you haven't seen it already.

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7 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

This film is now available on Amazon Prime and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  What a story!  It is always interesting to me to learn about the human being behind the dazzling on-stage dancer, and few would have such a background as Carlos Acosta.  Hats off to him, and to the film makers and actors.  Thoroughly recommended if you haven't seen it already.

 

Unfortunately I’m not able to find it on Amazon Prime - it may be available in some countries but not others yet. While searching for it I have stumbled across Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella though so something different to add to the watch list! 

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  • 2 years later...

I finally caught up with the film Yuli: the Carlos Acosta Story, which was still available on BBC iPlayer until a couple of days ago.   Having seen him dance many times, I was very interested to see how this would be handled.  I am not sure how much my reaction was influenced by the fact that I am a classical ballet fan, but personally I was disappointed.  There was hardly any actual classical ballet.  His childhood story was interesting, but he is depicted as being so badly behaved at the ballet school, I am amazed they kept him on.  The fact that they did was because his teacher kept saying he was an amazing talent, but no attempt is made to demonstrate this, no clips of any boy students  in class at all. 

 

Some fascinating snippets of him winning the gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne, and an enticing little clip of him dancing the balcony scene in R & J with Rojo.  Personally I could have done with a bit more live footage of him dancing in his prime, and a bit less of the lengthy scenes from his own ballet depicting his life story.  This  may have been a huge success, I don't know, but I found a lot of these dance scenes mind numbingly boring, and in an entirely different style to the medium that brought him international stardom.  Bit like having musical interludes in a film based on Pavarotti's life being sung in the style of jazz or pop. 

I did learn one thing, though.  I never knew he had danced with ENB. 

Edited by Fonty
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12 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I finally caught up with the film Yuli, about the life of Carlos Acosta, which was still available on BBC iPlayer until a couple of days ago.   Having seen him dance many times, I was very interested to see how his life story would be handled.  I am not sure how much my reaction was influenced by the fact that I am a classical ballet fan, but personally I was disappointed.  There was hardly any actual classical ballet.  His childhood story was interesting, but he is depicted as being so badly behaved at the ballet school, I am amazed they kept him on.  The fact that they did was because his teacher kept saying he was an amazing talent, but no attempt is made to demonstrate this, no clips of any boy students  in class at all. 

 

Some fascinating snippets of him winning the gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne, and an enticing little clip of him dancing the balcony scene in R & J with Rojo.  Personally I could have done with a bit more live footage of him dancing in his prime, and a bit less of the lengthy scenes from his own ballet depicting his life story.  This  may have been a huge success, I don't know, but I found a lot of these dance scenes mind numbingly boring, and in an entirely different style to the medium that brought him international stardom.  Bit like having musical interludes about Pavarotti's life being sung in the style of jazz or pop. 

I did learn one thing, though.  I never knew he had danced with ENB. 

 

Interesting comments, Fonty. I enjoyed this when I saw it ?last year, but I think it's unfortunately true that a lot of 'ballet' programmes/films are really much more interested in telling the personal story than in illuminating anything about ballet. (Ideally, of course, they should do both.)

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1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

Interesting comments, Fonty. I enjoyed this when I saw it ?last year, but I think it's unfortunately true that a lot of 'ballet' programmes/films are really much more interested in telling the personal story than in illuminating anything about ballet. (Ideally, of course, they should do both.)

 

I did enjoy it, some fascinating insight into life in Cuba, and  wasn't expecting it to offer  a greater understanding of the art itself.  However, I couldn't help thinking that if Billy Eliot could cover the subject in a way that was popular with the general public with no prior knowledge or interest, then surely a film about Carlos Acosta could do it. 

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I enjoyed the film but, as is often the case, I enjoyed the book more. I think Carlos’ life story is remarkable and as such the film is inspiring and has a wider appeal than for balletomanes. Having said that, I totally appreciate the point Fonty makes regarding the lack of substantial focus on the balletic qualities of his dancing .

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