***MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV BIOGRAPHY (2004, A&E, in English, Full Screen, 50 min) ~ The legendary dancer talks about his training in Russia and his life since defecting in 1974. His defection from the Soviet Union spurred a Cold War crisis. In the decades since, his career has expanded beyond dance to embrace film, fashion and more. Thirty years after he made Soviet nightmares come true by abandoning the Kirov ballet for the promise of the West, Mikhail Baryshnikov remains arguably the most famous dancer in the world. Considered the best male ballet performer since Nijinsky, he single-handedly lifted annual ballet attendance in New York from 1 million to 15 million! But far more have seen his work on screen, where he has appeared in films like White Nights and even played Carrie Bradshaw's love interest on Sex in the City. Packed with footage and featuring interviews with friends, family and colleagues, this is an incisive portrait of a performer who risked everything for his art. ***WHITE NIGHTS (1985, Sony Pictures, in English & Portuguese, Widescreen, 136 min) ~ an Academy Award winner, this film is pairing ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov with tap great Gregory Hines. The resulting storm of dance in White Nights, as one would expect, is great. The powerful grace of Mikhail Baryshnikov as Nikolai and the fancy footwork and star appeal of Gregory Hines as Raymond combine with a great production design to carry this tale of intrigue. Baryshnikov plays (in parallel to his own life) a Russian defector to the U.S. who ends up a prisoner in the motherland after his plane is forced to land in Leningrad during an emergency. Trapped in the country he had escaped, he is brought to stay with Raymond, an American who defected during the Vietnam war. Nikolai desperately wants to get out of the country, but the Russians have other plans. (Total running time 3 hrs 06 min).
