I saw a made for television movie on We this afternoon and it was very well done. I'm not sure how long ago it aired originally, but you might want to keep an eye out for it.
I saw a made for television movie on We this afternoon and it was very well done. I'm not sure how long ago it aired originally, but you might want to keep an eye out for it.
I saw most of this movie, while surfing channels for the Summer Olympics. I think it portrayed a very real side of Oksana and showed her as a very normal young girl growing up, facing the pressures of competition, and also facing the very sad tragedies of losing her grandmother, mother, and her coach - the latter of whom was her best friend.
The actress who portrayed Oksana was a skilled figure skater and skated quite well, I thought, in the various competition and practice sequences.
The segment on the 1993 Worlds in Prague (here I go again with my retrospective threads!!) showed the women of the final flight sitting backstage, waiting to be called on to the ice for their long programs. Oksana smiled at the skater who was, obviously, portraying Nancy Kerrigan (very much a look alike), and "Nancy", just looked away.
"Oksana" wore the black "swan" and the pink "Broadway" costumes for the Lillehamer Olympic segments. I was impressed at the portrayal of coach Galina, who showed a great deal of warmth and compassion for her young student. In the segment where Oksana collided with another skater during the long program practice session and injured her leg and back, "Galina" wrapped her arms around Oksana and told her, "Don't worry, you will have another Olympics." Amazing, considering how much the Ukranian sports federation wanted her to win the gold medal.
The best sequence, IMHO, was saved for last. The actress who portrayed Oksana came to an empty rink, dressed in the black "swan" costume. Then, suddenly the real Oksana appeared and skated her short program. This had, obviously, been filmed during the 1993-1994 season, as it was the 16-year-old Oksana, who skated a beautiful, beautiful, long program.
The movie ended at that point, with Oksana winning the 1994 Olympic gold medal.
I saw it too!although I didn't like it as much as you two did I did like the story... you can definately see the love Oksana had for the people involved in her childhood by the way they were portrayed in the movie. What bugged me the most was they were talking in English with Russian/Ukrainian accents. What's the point in that??? it's always been something that grates on me when I watch a movie like that. But whatever LOL
it was a touching story.
Well,what are the alternatives?Have them talk in Russian,with English subtitles below?That would be too distracting.The alternative would be to copy from the HBO movie on Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakahrov and Yelena Bonner,payed by Jason Robard and Glenda Jackson.....who kept their own American and British accents throughout the film!!!What was that all aboutOriginally Posted by Tonichelle
I saw it too!
."(spoken with a cockney accent)Oy!I'm from the K. G. B.!"
At least since Oksana has lived in the US long enough to speak English,and,yes,with a Russian accent,the actress's portrayal was not as loopy as if you heard,say, Catherine Zeta-Jones portray Anjelika Krylova,and keep her native Welsh accent!
ROTFLAt least since Oksana has lived in the US long enough to speak English,and,yes,with a Russian accent,the actress's portrayal was not as loopy as if you heard,say, Catherine Zeta-Jones portray Anjelika Krylova,and keep her native Welsh accent!Zeta-Jones and Krylova are lookalikes (to an extent), but I just can't imagine ZJ on skates, can you??
The movie, of course, won't win an Emmy. It did not feature the greatest acting, nor the greatest skating - except for the last segment that featured the real 16-year-old Oksana skate to her "Swan Lake" short program. The young woman who portrayed Oksana was a competent skater, but she only landed doubles, not triples. Still, it was a good movie. Let the story be told.
no, I don't want the Russian spoken with subtitles, but if you're not going to do that drop the very fake and sometimes non-existant accents... either use it totally or not at all... the fact that not all of them did just annoyed me. It always has... but whatever
As I wrote, the Oksana Baiul move won't win an Emmy award, but it was a nice presentation of her story as a young skater, up to her 1994 Olympic win. OK, perhaps the "accents" could have been better performed, but I give the cast credit for attempting to "sound" like Ukranians. After all, that was the setting of the story.
was I the only one who noticed that the kerrigan look-a-like had a unibrow?
I agree with Toni. Non-accented English would do just fine.
[QUOTE=SkateFan4Life]ROTFL
Actually, I read that ZJ wanted to be a figure skater growing up but there were no rinks (somehwere in Europe if memory serves) so she opted for dancing.
[QUOTE=Glacierskater]Zeta-Jones grew up in Wales, so perhaps there weren't any available skating facilities close to her home. She has certainly excelled as an actress, dancer, and, well, she certainly caught the eye of Michael Douglas!ROTFL
Actually, I read that ZJ wanted to be a figure skater growing up but there were no rinks (somehwere in Europe if memory serves) so she opted for dancing.
The actresses didn't do their own skating. The two who played her in skating roles (the 6-year old girl, and the teenager), both had skating doubles, but neither was credited.
It was filmed in my hometown, and partly in my former home rink, and a lot of the local girls were used for extras. It's actually really amusing to re-watch and recognze people you skated with, most of whom now look totally different.
And it can't win an emmy for another reason -- it was made in 1994.
And did anyone pick up on the very different pronounciations of Oksana? Some of the actors, despite numerous attempts in filmings, just could not pronounce it.
I saw this horrible movie last night. I wouldn't watch it again. Most of it seemed false from what other stories of her life were. Did anyone catch this? And didn't Oksana leave her coach, even though she promised she never would?
Funny they show her doubling her jumps, rather than 2 footing them
And why portray Nancy (the mean American) as a villan? She was just a young girl too. Did this incident in the locker room really happen?
Last edited by Fossi; 08-28-2004 at 01:45 PM.
I saw it it's a good movie.
[And why portray Nancy (the mean American) as a villan? She was just a young girl too. Did this incident in the locker room really happen?[/QUOTE]
I think that Nancy did that for herself.....based on Nancy's little on air comment after the skating was done...just and observation.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks