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 Billy Elliot (DVD)
Description: Genre: Drama / Theatrical Release: 2000 / Director: Stephen Daldry / Actors: Jamie Bell, Jean Heywood ... / DVD ... more  Billy Elliot (DVD) ... released 18 April, 2006 at Uca Catalogue / Features of the DVD: Anamorphic, PAL / Foursquare in the gritty-but-hearwarming tradition of Brassed Off and The Full Monty comes Billy Elliot, the first film of noted British theatrical director Stephen Daldry. The setting is County Durham in 1984, and things 'oop North are even grimmer than usual: the miners' strike is in full rancorous swing and 11-year-old Billy's dad and older brother, miners both, are staunch on the picket lines. Billy's got problems of his own. His dad's scraped together the fees to send him to boxing lessons, but Billy's discovered a different aptitude: a genius for ballet dancing. Since admitting to such an activity is tantamount, in this fiercely macho culture, to holding up a sign reading "I AM A RAVING POOF", Billy keeps it quiet. But his teacher, Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters, wearily undaunted) thinks he should audition for ballet school in London. Family ructions are inevitable. Daldry's film sidesteps some of the politics, both sexual and otherwise, but scores with its laconic dialogue (credit to screenwriter Lee Hall) and a cracking performance from newcomer Jamie Bell as Billy. His powerhouse dance routines, more Gene Kelly than Nureyev, carry an irresistible sense of exhilaration and self-discovery. Among a flawless supporting cast Stuart Wells stands out as Billy's sweet gay friend Michael. And if the miners' strike serves largely as background colour, there's one brief episode, as visored and truncheoned cops rampage through neat little terraced houses, that captures one of the most spiteful episodes in recent British history. --Philip KempNewest Review: ... cast and tells the story of Billy a working class kid who attends Ballet lessons and is the only boy there but the teacher, ... more ... Juloie Walters soon discovers he has a real talent and aims to go about persuading Billy's dad to let his son try for a scholarship at the Royal Ballet School in London.
Billy's dad is having none of it at first and is completely ashamed of his son, calling him a faggot etc etc, but slowly comes round, Billy trys for the scholarship and gets a place.
The film follows the story of Billy coming of age and the stigma around boys dancing and the end where Billys dad and brother go to a ballet where the grown up Billy i...more |
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Billy Elliot (DVD): Raw Talent (1170 words)
by TheChocolateLady - written on 02.07.06 (Very useful, 174 readings)
Rating:
The basic story behind the movie Billy Elliot is a very familiar one – a child from a poor family discovers a hidden talent, but the family doesn't approve of the talent and/or hasn't the funds to help (in this case, its both). Can the child triumph through adversity? Well, come on – if not, there's no reason to make a movie of it, is there? So yes, this type of story isn't a new one. The question then is – what, if anything makes the movie Billy Elliot special? If you ask me (and you wouldn't be reading this review if you weren't interested in my opinion), I would say that firstly, the addition of irony and juxtaposition played a major role in making the ...
An Ugly Duckling? (928 words)
by lily7star - written on 12.02.01 (Very useful, 113 readings)
Rating:
This was a movie I was never going to write a dooyoo review on. I eventually went to see it long after reading Jill Murphy's excellent review and with that still in my mind as I watched. While there was *that* review, I reasoned, there was no need of another. Isn't it interesting though how we all grab some aspect of a movie and realise when reading and re-reading what someone else has written, that what you grabbed is something different, something more personal to you perhaps? As for me, what I grabbed is different to Jill, even though she was the one who inspired me to see the movie in the first place! So here with no further preamble is my offering ...
Billy Elliot (DVD): Billy this ain't ballet!! (428 words)
by savanna - written on 08.10.00 (Very useful, 248 readings)
Rating:
As you all doubtless know by now, Billy Elliott is the story of an eleven year old boy growing up in a tough environment in County Durham in 1984, amidst the chaos and depression of the miners' strike. Billy discovers he likes to dance by wandering into a ballet class (taught by Julie Walters, yet another under-statedly brilliant performance from a great actress) which is unaccountably sharing the same space as his boxing class that day. From then on the storyline is somewhat predictable. As Billy discovers that his talents lean towards dancing, rather than boxing, for which he has no gift whatsoever, he has to fight to be allowed to continue to ...
Billy Elliot (DVD) : From Pirouettes To Picket Linesfrom karenuk
24.09.2001
Billy Elliot (DVD) : NOT AS GOOD AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BEfrom jacklover
22.08.2001
