I'm not a dancer myself but I'm a sucker for dance movie and Strictly Ballroom really delivers. I may have given it a perfect rating but it's not technically perfect (there are some low- budget/poor editing/non-sensical story gaps) but if you let go and enjoy the ride these things will just fade away.
Set in a small town in Australia the film is about Scott Hastings, the son of the owners of a small dance studio that specializes in ballroom dancing. As the audience is repeatedly reminded, he's been training to win the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix since he was six years old and even though he's an open amateur, winning the title would assure his financial success as an instructor and a dancer. Unfortunately for his parents and their studio Scott may have the talent, but his heart is elsewhere. Bored with the same pre-approved dance steps he's been perfecting for years he starts experimenting his own non-federation approved steps which results in him losing competitions and his long-term dance partner. But more than willing to step into the void and encourage Scott to follow his heart is newbie dancer Fran, who despite her poor looks and minimal training convinces Scott to giver her a go as a partner.
The tone of this film is what I've come to think of as Australian- weird which is cartoonish, wild and lots of fun. It has a much smaller budget than Lurmann's later films, but it contains the same sense of wonder, fun and musicality just on a smaller scale. All of the actors are fantastic but particularly wonderful is Paul Mercurio as Scott who really doesn't get enough credit for his work on the film. He nails every dance sequence which gets coasted over since he's a "dancer" but Mercurio was actually a ballerina who only had a few weeks to train in ballroom and sell the fact that he's an expert. To my untrained eye at least he completely nails it. Tara Morice really nails her role as the ugly duckling who becomes a swan and I really appreciated that Lurmann allows her to be not just plain but downright ugly in her earlier scenes before she gets the makeover that sells her as a romantic lead.
Full of humour and heart this is a film I return to again and again.
Set in a small town in Australia the film is about Scott Hastings, the son of the owners of a small dance studio that specializes in ballroom dancing. As the audience is repeatedly reminded, he's been training to win the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix since he was six years old and even though he's an open amateur, winning the title would assure his financial success as an instructor and a dancer. Unfortunately for his parents and their studio Scott may have the talent, but his heart is elsewhere. Bored with the same pre-approved dance steps he's been perfecting for years he starts experimenting his own non-federation approved steps which results in him losing competitions and his long-term dance partner. But more than willing to step into the void and encourage Scott to follow his heart is newbie dancer Fran, who despite her poor looks and minimal training convinces Scott to giver her a go as a partner.
The tone of this film is what I've come to think of as Australian- weird which is cartoonish, wild and lots of fun. It has a much smaller budget than Lurmann's later films, but it contains the same sense of wonder, fun and musicality just on a smaller scale. All of the actors are fantastic but particularly wonderful is Paul Mercurio as Scott who really doesn't get enough credit for his work on the film. He nails every dance sequence which gets coasted over since he's a "dancer" but Mercurio was actually a ballerina who only had a few weeks to train in ballroom and sell the fact that he's an expert. To my untrained eye at least he completely nails it. Tara Morice really nails her role as the ugly duckling who becomes a swan and I really appreciated that Lurmann allows her to be not just plain but downright ugly in her earlier scenes before she gets the makeover that sells her as a romantic lead.
Full of humour and heart this is a film I return to again and again.