Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsStrictly Ballroom, why?
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2010
Let's do the technical stuff first. First DVD release was horrible. Video was washed out and audio was not great. Probably rushed out when film started to take off in the mid 90's. It had a minor success when released in Australia in 1992. People there knew of it and it developed a "cult" following...and launched Baz Luhrmann's directorial career. Australian movies are light on sets and are mainly shot on location, so some of the "inside" angles, lighting and composition aren't Hollywood. Video quality in later releases was much better, the latest DVD relase has brilliant colors and the audio is digitized. All in all a DVD of respectable quality. (Get the DVD in the case showing a red curtain) I have not yet seen the blu-ray version. Vendors are holding it hostage at about US$25.00..so I'll wait. Now, the story & its production. I worked with video in the TV news biz for 50 years so I know a little bit abut film techniques that might help you along in your understanding of how certain "feelings" are extracted from the audience. Luhrmann starts off the movie with a musical flourish, swirling colors and good music (he's got your eye now)...then segues into a semi-documentary style with several of the actors talking in soundbites ala local TV to help set up the story(now you understand the story and its emotional base). And its a story of the intense competition in amateur dance in Australia. If you fear soccer moms and their intensity or Little League dads...well you get the idea. The fact that young Scott is a rebellious lad who has tremendous talent, but no desire to dance the steps dictated by Australian Dance Federation rules...has his mother and partner upset to the point of tears.
Enter Fran, a rookie student at the same dance school where Scott's the number one male dancer. Luhrmann is sneaky. He and crew do some neat things to make their story move along and help you see that the two main characters are the core of the story...and help you figure out that there's more going on between Scott and Fran than a tango or two. Notice that all the other dance pairs are looking away from each other when they dance, while Scott and Fran are always looking at each other. Tells you right away where their focus is. Notice how, at the beginning, Fran really is an ugly duckling. (Morice played her role without makeup it seems for the first third of the movie--that takes guts). Then her hair settles down, the makeup goes on and she becomes a really nice looking girl...not sexy, but like many attractive girls....certainly someone any of us merely human males could find and get acquainted with at a high school dance. And with that change, and her determination, the audience falls for Fran in her quest...first to dance with Scott, even though she's a rookie....and then her increasing infatuation with him. Reviewers said the movie had Australian women crying and Australian men joining dance clubs. You'll love the movie. It's now somehwerre in my top five all time, along with Casablanca, The third Man, Lawrence of Arabia and Bourne 3. And it needs a sequel. Fran & Scott need to complete their relationship. Other notes: Paul Mercurio (Scott)is currently hosting a cooking show, and is a judge in the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars. Tara Morice, Fran, is still an actress. She has had minor parts in several Lurhmann productions and larger parts in a couple of other movies and on Australian TV. Before Strictly Ballroom she had never danced professionally. She also sings one of the songs on the soundtrack which is worth owning. Mercurio is the son of an American-turned-Australian charactor actor you saw in Crocodile Dundee. He is a dancer by trade who had never acted till Strictly Ballroom. By the way, he finished the big ending scene on a badly sprained ankle.
