Elizabeth GohMovie Review: Breaking Through
Haven’t we all fantasized about a genuine talent scout discovering our homemade dance video/music video/stand-up comedy/magic routine on YouTube and making us an obscenely large offer of money, fame and all the perks that go with being the next big thing?
Well, so has Casey Wright (Sophia Aguiar). A sales assistant at a tech store dreams her friends JJ (Jordan Rodrigues), Drew (Robert Roldan), Tara (Marissa Heart), Michelle (Taeko McCarroll) and her will be darlings of the dance circuit this way. But even after a whole list of videos posted, they only have 28 measly likes and one comment on one video to show for it.
It’s a formulaic film with a plotline that’s been done to death, bearing similarities to other dance movies like Flashdance and Make It Happen. The only difference is that Breaking Through appears to have more modern day relevance because it panders to the social media generation.
First-time director John Swetnam, who wrote Step Up: All In, should have done himself a favor and stayed with screenwriting. Pacing is especially bad because it took an hour of screen time before Quinn (Jay Ellis), finally makes an appearance. A talent manager who’s been trawling YouTube for dancers just like Casey, Quinn secures enough funding to up the production values of the next dance video of Casey and her pals, which immediately gets 50,000 views. Then comes the typical catch – Quinn’s investors only like Casey, and pressure her to ditch the rest of her dance crew. So Casey finds herself having to make the cliché and painful choice between fame, or her friends and family.
This lack of surprises plotwise is only the start of what’s weighing this film down. With stilted acting and predictable scripting, where it feels like the lines themselves have been cobbled together from the last few dance movies, the entirety of the film feels a little boring to watch. For example, the typical argument between Casey and JJ where he proclaims that fame has changed her and he doesn’t know who she is anymore. Cue the slamming of the door as JJ walks out on Casey.
Even with tensions arising within Casey’s dance crew, we can’t seem to bring ourselves to sympathize with them, because their characters are rather one-dimensional. Among them are only unexplored and stereotypical personalities – the blond bimbo, the Asian who’s a classically-trained violinist. They could’ve been more creative.
Breaking Through’s saving grace was its choreography. The brain behind the dance sequences is famous choreographer Ian Eastwood, who embodies the YouTuber star with over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and 53 million views. His choreography was nothing short of fantastic, and in the hands and feet of Aguiar, breathed life into the otherwise listless film. Though the dance segments definitely weren’t on as large a scale as those of the Step Up franchise, they had their own special element. To convey the perspective of the dance community on YouTube, Swetnam tried to shoot most of the dances in a handheld camera style. This helped to remove the glitz and showcase dance in a raw, simplistic form.
Aguiar’s abilities come as no surprise with her impressive resume as well, having performed as a dancer on stage beside stars like Britney Spears, Nick Jonas and Ne-Yo. And just like this film, it was through such YouTube performances of her dancing with famous artists that led Swetnam to cast Aguiar in Breaking Through. We also enjoyed how the film gave a nod to several dance sensations around the world such as Poreotics and Les Twins by featuring them as guest performers. Their dance segments were truly captivating.
As an added bonus for those passionate, undiscovered YouTube dancers, nine-time Grammy award winner John Legend (who’s also the executive producer and composer for Breaking Through) and Swetnam collaborated with DanceOn, a YouTube network, to hold an online contest where some submitted dance videos had a chance to be in the film.
All in all, though we appreciate the film’s effort to connect with this generation of social media stars, especially with the rising wave of YouTube fame and fanfests, the effort fell flat on its face. It was simply too riddled with awkward acting and a storyline that left little to the imagination.
For Swetnam, who chose to go from writing Step Up to directing a generic dance movie, this might have just been a step down.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Information
Release Date: 29 October 2015
Runtime: 90 minutes
Language: English
Rating: PG
Genre: Dance, Drama
Director: John Swetnam
Cast: Sophia Aguiar, Jordan Rodrigues, Robert Roldan, Taeko McCarroll