Dancer

Sergei Polunin became the youngest principal at the Royal Ballet at the end of a road that started in Ukraine. Then he resigned at twenty-two. The documentary builds what came before that decision: his family broke apart to pay for his training, his mother stayed with him, his father and grandmother went abroad to work. For years Polunin felt he had to repay that sacrifice. Steven Cantor combines the family's own home video, stage recordings and interviews with the people around him. At the center is not a story of talent but the machinery assembled to produce it. The film's high point is the video David LaChapelle shot of Polunin dancing to Hozier's Take Me to Church. That recording was watched millions of times online and brought him back just as he was about to stop. Who it's for: Viewers who like ballet and dance documentaries, artist portraits, and stories about what talent costs. Who it's not for: The film keeps no critical distance from Polunin and offers some of his behaviour as explanation. There is also less dancing than you would expect.