As a musician and even an actress Madonna has been able to convince people that she knows exactly what she’s doing, but as a director she has yet to really prove herself to anyone. With the film Taking Flight she’s going to try once again to show people that she can tell a story as well as act in and sing about one. The story of Michaela DePrince is an inspirational piece that will highlight the beginning of this extraordinary woman’s life when she was adopted from an orphanage and encouraged to become a professional ballet dancer. As a film idea it seems sound enough, but with Madonna at the helm there are already a few cocked eyebrows that would indicate that caution is the best advice in this case.
A lot of film stars have made the transition from acting to directing, and there have been those that have tried it, bombed out, and never gone back. But Madonna is at least willing to give it another go since it seems that she believes in this story and seems to think that she and Michaela share a great deal in common. That’s kind of debatable since Madonna came from a rather caring home and made a go of her own success in her own fashion. Michaela decided that she wanted to be a ballerina and the foster family that adopted her were completely supportive. In terms of being strong-willed the two might very well have something in common, but their backgrounds are quite different. In terms of how well the movie could do however the story seems like something that might be something that could be told in an extremely positive voice, but the idea that it could be interesting enough for a feature-length film kind of begs for a different director.
I could very well be wrong and if that happens I would gladly admit it. But considering how poorly Madonna’s last movie did it would require her to learn from whatever mistakes she made in the past and move forward in a different direction to make this film into something special. While she’s shown the propensity for change Madonna has also shown in the past that she’s going to do things her way and there won’t be anyone that can change her mind. That’s an admirable trait really but if it causes a movie to bomb then it might be time to consider taking some advice now and again. Straight to the point, inspirational movies are great, they’re a wonderful thing to watch, but they need to be done in a light that shows the real struggle of the individual and they need to be advanced in a way that allows for natural progression and a healthy dose of real development.
It’s easy for anyone that’s never directed to talk, especially since as viewers we tend to know what we want to see no matter that directors tend to scoff at this. One word of advice to Madonna and any director out there however, people actually do know what they’d like to see, that’s why they go to the movies in the first place.
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