I have noticed lately that in order for someone to classify a movie as good, one or both of the following must be happening:
1) The movie, from the artistic point of view (meaning the directing, the acting, the scenery etc), must be really good.
2) One must identify, at some level, with the main character.
(The above sounds like a mathematical theorem
Well, it’s way more complicated than that, but I hope everyone knows what I mean…)
In my opinion the movie lacked (1) (only as far as the directing and scenery is concerned). For example, I would have liked more action in the roller derby scenes. Not that they were totally flat, on the contrary. Maybe the music wasn’t “lifting” enough, I don’t know…
On the other hand, the movie had many good elements. First of all, the way the rules of the roller derby were presented was very clear and easily understood by people like me that had never even heard of it before. Additionally, we had the chance to see the “insides” of this sport (meaning how the girls felt, what they were thinking etc). Last but not least, the Mother-daughter relationship was one that I had never seen in any other movie. To me, that was the most interesting part of the movie, to see how Bliss could balance between what she liked and what her mother wanted for her. All the actors and actresses did a great job and Ellen Page incarnated Bliss in a very realistic and honest way.
My rating was 7/10.
