Mar. 07, 2004 - 3:03 pm
this week i'm continuing on with my Australian film history. Dale at the library downtown talked me into getting not two but three Australian films this week, so expect more of that to follow.
this is one of the not so numerous Australian films that Stacey has seen. she tells me that i have now seen more films from her country than she has. interesting, but then i'm more obsessive about films so that makes sense right? but it totally makes sense that Stacey would've seen this one since she's all about some dancing.
Strictly Ballroom is an early Baz Luhrmann film, and you sure can tell when something is a Baz Luhrmann film. expect lots of sparkling and color and people screaming and strange fisheye lenses on cameras. basically expect an ostentatious, outlandishly shot film. critics tend to enjoy his movies though because they're out of the ordinary. usually they're a little too weird for my taste, but i certainly can't call them unoriginal. his other two films are Romeo and Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001)
this movie concerns a young man trying to win an Australian latin dance competition and his struggle to find a dance partner that will be willing to work on his showy new dance style with him. i just learned that the director, Baz Luhrmann, actually participated in this sort of zany ballroom dancing competition as a child. that definitely helps to explain his colorful and excited style of film. he's currently working on a film called Untitled Alexander the Great Project (2005). that'll be interesting to see what that entails.
i find it funny that this film also stars the aussie actor Bill Hunter. that name might not ring a bell, but if you start watching all of these Australian movies, his face will sure start to look familiar. he's in like half of the most important Australian films of the past 25 years. these include: Gallipoli (1981), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), Muriel's Wedding (1994), Finding Nemo (2003), and of course Strictly Ballroom (among many others). he's become "that guy!" in my mind at this point. always a supporting actor. he plays Barry Fife, the dance federation's president in this film.
well i think this is definitely my favorite of the three movies that Baz has made. the dancing was excellent, and i think the fact that it wasn't at all a musical helped me to accept it. also, the cinematic style actually worked with the text of the film. it's about dancing and dazzling people and that's a bit of what this film did. with his other films it sometimes seems just completely out of place. especially with Romeo and Juliet. this time it works for the most part. if the acting had been a bit more convincing and the dialogue a bit better, i probably would have loved this film.