STRICTLY BALLROOM (1992)

Country: Australia

Genre(s): Comedy / Romance

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Cast: Paul Mercurio / Tara Morice / Bill Hunter

Plot

Star dancer Scott offends the conservative ballroom dancing community by inventing his own steps and taking on mousy novice Fran as his dance partner.  When a romance blooms between Scott and Fran, the young man must choose between his past ambitions and his new love.

What I Liked

Director Baz Luhrmann has an idiosyncratic talent for blending the flagrant with the elegant.  As is the case with so many of his films, “Strictly Ballroom” features a collage-like hodgepodge of rapid-cutting, extreme camera angles, obscene close-ups, garish colors, and bursts of noise.  However, there are also moments of moving intimacy and graceful art.  The superbly choreographed dance sequences (and the accompanying camerawork) are the highlight of the latter approach.  As can be inferred from the title, these are the focus of the film’s plot but they also serve as much needed breaks from the frenetic grotesquery of most of the rest of the film.  Luhrmann certainly can’t be accused of ever being too subtle, even in the more subdued scenes of this film.  For even the dance numbers are vibrantly colorful and beautifully flamboyant.  Like his main character, Luhrmann clearly has little care for following convention or calming his audience; his focus is on individualism, excitement, and spectacle, all of which he achieves.

What I Didn’t Like

Despite all of what I said above, I’ve never been particularly fond of the Luhrmann films I’ve seen previous to this, and this film did not change my mind.  He may indeed be a master of stunning visuals, but his lack of self-restraint makes for a disorienting and sometimes aggravating finished product.  The first twenty minutes or so of the film were so over-the-top on the close-up camera shots, ridiculous wigs, grotesque make-up, and obnoxious voices that I was considering cutting the movie off for being just plain idiotic.  I stuck around purely out of my desire to continue with my goal of seeing all of the 1001 movies listed.  Luckily later scenes redeemed the movie by toning down the ferocity a bit.

Most Memorable Scene

Luhrmann briefly finds a satisfying balance between his more confrontational style and the more traditional approach when Scott begins to take dancing lessons from Fran’s father.  As her family learns to respect the young outsider, Scott rediscovers his passion for dance.  The characters’ movements are passionate and boisterous while the warmth between the characters feels natural.  Combined with the simple setting and acoustic music, these moments convey pure joy straight to the viewer’s eyes, ears, and heart.  Simply put, these are by far, the most endearing moments of the film.

My Rating: 3 out of 5