Passion’s one thing, but to pick everything up from DVDs to books… Man, I wish learning were that easy. Jang Hyuk plays a naive and typical obedient boy, Tae, who becomes fascinated with dancing after being taken to a theatre. His father thinks dancing won’t make him peanuts in the real world and forbidden fruit being the best, …you get the gist. Tae finds a leaflet one day that leads him to Singapore and Fann Wong, whom apparently is a former dance champion, but I’m not convinced. Recognising his passion and copycat talent, Emi takes him into the school and personally coaches him, while Emi’s boyfriend (Jason Scott Lee) watches from the sidelines, jealous of all the physical contact.
Dance Of The Dragon is essentially Billy Elliot with one-eighth the intensity and conviction, and god damn, they really took their own sweet time getting towards the finale. The meeting of American, Korean and Singaporean talents create promising ground but does not quite work out, and the pretty cinematography makes no difference. Fann Wong, for instance, could have turned into an oak tree in the midst of her lines and you wouldn’t have noticed.
(First published at InCinemas)
