Another of my all-time favorite movies is STRICTLY BALLROOM, a little, campy Australian film Baz Luhrmann (MOULIN ROUGE!, ROMEO+JULIET) threw together back in the early 1990's, long before the TV ballroom dancing craze took over.
It's a hilarious musical story of what if?: what if a champion ballroom dancer decides he wants to dance his own steps in the nationals?
While ballroom dancing styles appear to vary from couple to couple when you watch a show like DANCING WITH THE STARS, the 'required steps' are actually quite 'regulated' as to what's kosher, how each is done, and what's not allowed, apparently based on what can be 'taught' (meaning 'money-making' for a dance studio). Heaven forbid someone should dance their own steps ala Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire or Savion Glover, showing more talent than is teachable - what would the world come to?!?
So it becomes just about everyone's goal in the movie to get Scott Hastings, our hero, to conform to the 'rules' - everyone except Fran, a beginner who loves the way he dances, and maybe a bit more.
The whole movie is done consistently tongue-in-cheek which is actually quite hard to do and do well, but this one does it. It's amazingly quirky and funny and fascinating and a little gem. The music is wonderful and the dancing is fantastic, especially during the 'finals'. What's even neater to me is that the lead male (Paul Mercurio) was a dancer who learned to act for this movie and the lead female (Tara Morice) was an actress who had to learn to dance. I think each did a good job 'crossing over'. =) Also, the guy playing Scott's dad (Barry Otto - Dad to actress Miranda Otto) is actually a comic actor who also learned to dance for his role as a former ballroom champion.
If you enjoy Australian sensibility and humor (and accents!) or even just love ballroom dancing, then definitely check this movie out!
(1992) Rated PG - Language
Starring Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Gia Carides, Barry Otto, Bill Hunter, Sonia Kruger, Pat Thomson, Antonio Vargas
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