Black Orpheus

By 2016 I will be somewhere in Brasil lying about my age.
In preparation for this I've resolved to learn Portuguese.  I got the alphabet under my belt tonight so I figured that qualified me to stream a bunch of Brazilian and Portuguese language movies on Netflix which I'll probably be doing for some time to come.

I started with the 2008 documentary 'Only When I Dance'.

It was enjoyable.  I'm not too terribly interested in classical and ballet dance and I was a bit mad at myself upon starting it up and finding that it was a documentary (I have a tendency to not read things before I commit to them) when I wasn't really in a documentary mood, but it proved to be relatively painless. 
I just wished it had focused less on Irlan who, with his unquestionable talent, is certain to go far and have a happy ending, but instead use the opportunity to shed a bit more light on nearly impossible standards that a dancer has to live up to which, in Isabela's case, proved to be the unraveling of her dream. 
I do know, of course, that would have made the film a completely different beast and not as heartwarming.  But I felt bad for feeling so heart-warmed by the successes of Irlan when only moments ago I saw Isabela's family devastated, both financially and emotionally.  It didn't make it any better when after Google searching to check up on the young protagonists, on all the red carpets at all the events, Irlan was in every photo but poor Isabela was nowhere to be found.
That being a major gripe, like I said, I did enjoy the movie.  Really beautiful moments accomponied by a really great soundtrack.  Very Brazilian down to it's core.  The filmmakers did a very good job of that.  It's very visceral and at only about 80 minutes this film is a good one for when you want to be transported elsewhere.  

6.5/10