Birds of Paradise

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.

I was instantly sucked in and captivated every moment. The scenes in this are absolutely gorgeous also, ahh such a good job!!

Being a dancer growing up, I enjoy ballet movies if they are done somewhat descent. Unfortunately this is not one! At the beginning, as a movie nut I thought ok at least this is entertaining right? And that was pretty much the highlight of the movie the first time the main characters goes to the club. You can tell this is kinda low budget, not the worst low budget but you can tell more and more as the movie progresses. Characters are not developed, story plot is weak, and lots of bad acting. They want to be too many things- horror, drama, a little bit of sci-fi, a ballet movie... they got a tiny bit of everything but not enough of anything. It's unfortunate... it's best describe as a not funny version of Mean girls with tutu, sex and drugs(ok I might've just made it sound way better than it really is!)

The story of the film, although great, could have been better ... I really liked the soundtrack ... Of the 2021 drama movies I saw, this was the best ... thank you.

Considering the amount of fodder on Prime video, I was expecting mostly filler and there was a point where I asked myself what the movie was actually supposed to be about? And did it rise above that and finally mean anything? No, it didn't, but I watched it all the way through and kept on hoping for something bigger and deeper, which is all you can ask for, even though you don't necessarily get it. Beautiful people, not too cheesy, some pretty good acting, a few good songs and mostly great presentation. The film didn't try too hard and I liked it for its simplicity and eroticism and for not handing everything out on a plate. An entertaining watch that failed to hit major highs because the core story just isn't strong enough, but still classy and subtle enough to maintain a steady 7/10.

Direct hit for Amazon Studios! Great story, great actors, wonderful pictures, great score.

A really enjoyable film. I watched it and then watched again the next night just for the dialogue. Really well executed. Cool soundtrack too.

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.

This film was amazing. I knew it from the trailer as Kristine Froseth is a wonderful actress and so is her up and coming co-star Diana Silvers. Both very beautiful girls, although Kristine was a more belieavble ballerina due to her figure, height, grace etc. I enjoyed every moment...it's tense! Jacqueline Bisset gave a strong performance as usual and without saying too much, you can compare it to the masterpiece that was 'Black Swan' but on steroids. It is very seductive, beautiful cinematography and sometimes good choreography but most of all and surprisingly, the ending is unpredictable. Simply put the finale is perfect.

This movie starts out promising, but from "save the last dance" to "black swan", it will remind you of all those scenes, some so alike it's not even funny. The cast is bland, the acting is bland, there are no great dance scenes as they are almost poorly filmed or cut. The end kinda saves it, and so does the contrived friendship between the two main portagonists, but that's about it. Watchable.