{"id":28009,"date":"2013-04-26T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T06:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=28009"},"modified":"2013-04-29T20:52:05","modified_gmt":"2013-04-30T04:52:05","slug":"strictly-ballroom-baz-luhrmann-1992-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=28009","title":{"rendered":"Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann, 1992): Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Lauren Sousa<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a makeover in this movie.\u00a0 Alas, the movie makeover is a classic coming-of-age trope that so few can attempt and survive.\u00a0 This one does.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By ignoring it.<\/p>\n

Strictly Ballroom, writer-director Baz Luhrmann\u2019s directorial debut, is set in the madcap world of competitive ballroom dancing and is based on a hit play that he produced in the 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 As a result, the costumes are loud and wild enough to be seen in the back row of even the largest theater, though it\u2019s questionable whether the makeup was as lavish when most of the audience didn\u2019t have the advantage of the close-up.\u00a0 The plot is almost unbelievably predictable: Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio), a competitive ballroom dancer of indeterminate age still living at home and practicing at his parents\u2019 dance studio, is tired of dancing \u201cstrictly ballroom,\u201d the classic steps approved by the dance federation.\u00a0 After going rogue at a competition, his partner leaves him, but gawky, inexperienced dancer Fran (Tara Morice) realizes that dancing and having fun are much more important than following the rules and winning the Pan Pacific Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

As soon as Fran asks Scott to dance with her, the entire plot has been revealed.\u00a0 You already know who gets the makeover.\u00a0 You already know who wins.\u00a0 Two of the many things that this movie does right, though, is that you\u2019re right both times, except that you aren\u2019t.\u00a0 The makeover is simply gradual, resulting from Fran\u2019s growing self-confidence at dancing, familial support, some vaguely referenced \u201capricot scrub\u201d and \u201cbuff puff,\u201d and, yes, more attractive clothes, but it\u2019s handled very well; she\u2019s poor, and her costume reflects that.\u00a0 There\u2019s one blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it scene where she\u2019s made up like the other girls, but it\u2019s presented as ridiculous, and she returns to her normal, bare-faced persona<\/p>\n

In short, Fran is different<\/em>.\u00a0 She\u2019s not like those other girls \u2013 and Scott\u2019s not like those other boys, who are presented as either drunk and distracted or focused on nothing but ballroom.\u00a0 It\u2019s a simple device, but it works \u2013\u00a0 Scott and Fran\u2019s relative normalcy and Fran\u2019s inexperience make them effective conduits for the audience.\u00a0 The ridiculous costumes and makeup of most of the dancers, which involves face jewels, ruffled sleeves, sequins, fake tans and bleach-blonde hair, contrasts sharply with Scott and Fran\u2019s normal costumes, which allows the audience to feel, along with their surrogates, removed from those<\/em> ridiculous, often ego-maniacal\u00a0 characters that fill out the minor cast.<\/p>\n

It succeeds both as a ridiculous drama and all-out comedy; it\u2019s predictable, but it\u2019s funny and well-shot.\u00a0 Further, it\u2019s unusual; yes, once the goals have been set up, the conflicts are only requisite.\u00a0 This is the type of movie where a happy ending is perfectly obvious from the inciting event, but it\u2019s also the type of movie that actually manages to make you care about the characters; even in a world that has experienced Dancing with the Stars<\/em>, the cutthroat world of ballroom dancing is still all but foreign to most of us, and it\u2019s fascinating to watch characters who really, really care about something so frivolous and fun face and overcome perfunctory obstacles in a bright-colored world.\u00a0 Alas, Mercurio\u2019s acting isn\u2019t perfect, but his expertise is dancing, not acting, and his performance is serviceable, as are all of the others.\u00a0 The film\u2019s strongest aspect, though, is those dance scenes; there aren\u2019t many long takes or elaborate set pieces, but the cutting, music, and choreography all come together well, both aesthetically and as support to the plot; it\u2019s worth it, though, just to laugh at those<\/em> dancers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Lauren Sousa.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD. There is a makeover in this movie.\u00a0 Alas, the movie makeover is a classic coming-of-age trope that so few can attempt and survive.\u00a0 This one does.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By ignoring it. Strictly Ballroom, writer-director Baz Luhrmann\u2019s directorial debut, is set in the madcap world of competitive ballroom dancing and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2218,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}