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Written by Gregg Shapiro
Mar 10, 2011
Strictly Ballroom
‘Strictly Ballroom’
“Strictly Ballroom” (Miramax, 1992) deserves credit for sparking renewed interest in ballroom dancing, leading eventually to the popular ABC series “Dancing With the Stars.” The directorial debut of Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, the heightened and exaggerated “Strictly Ballroom” remains his best work. Far less overblown than the misguided “Australia” and the overrated “Moulin Rouge,” “Strictly Ballroom” is gaudily colorful, wickedly funny and strictly sentimental and entertaining.
Competitive and promising ballroom dancer Scott (the stunning Paul Mercurio, making his film debut) is the son of former competing dancers Shirley (Pat Thompson) and Doug (Barry Otto). Working toward the Pan-Pacific Championship since he was 6 years old, Scott almost blows it by working in his own flashy, crowd-pleasing steps during an early competition. He upsets dance partner Liz (Gia Carides), disappoints his parents and coach Les (Peter Whitford) and infuriates crooked toupee-wearing Australian Dance Federation president Barry (Bill Hunter).
Just when all hope is lost to find Scott a new dance partner, he connects with Fran (Tara Morice), a student at the dance studio where his mother and father work. Once she convinces Scott to give her a chance, we watch her ugly duckling-to-swan transformation. But Shirley and Les won’t stand for Scott dancing with Fran and have other plans for both of them. Not letting fear or anything else get in their way, Scott and Fran practice their routines, even enlisting the help of Fran’s flamenco-dancing father Rico (Antonio Vargas) and her grandmother (Armonia Benedito). Everything comes to a flashy conclusion at the Pan Pacific Championships, where long-kept secrets are revealed and love triumphs over fear.
Mercurio and Morice, sort of like a poor-man’s Guy Pearce and Toni Collette, are outstanding and provide the film with the necessary kick, so to speak. Preceding “Muriel’s Wedding” and “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” “Strictly Ballroom” kick-started a new wave of Australian cinema in the 1990s. It remains one of the genre’s best examples.
The DVD bonus features a deleted scene, the informative featurette “Strictly Ballroom: From Stage to Screen,” audio commentary and more.
‘Jerome Robbins’ NY Export: Opus Jazz’
Even if dance isn’t your thing, it’s hard not to be captivated by “Jerome Robbins’ NY Export: Opus Jazz” (Factory 25). Known as Robbins’ “ballet in sneakers,” “NY Export: Opus Jazz” was originally performed in the late 1950s and the dancers appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes’ film adaptation returns Robbins’ choreography to the setting of its inspiration. Filmed on location in New York and featuring a breathtaking ensemble of dancers from the New York City Ballet, the film begins with a convergence of dancers, arriving at an abandoned outdoor public pool by train, taxi, tram, bicycle and on foot. The spectacular group dance number is akin to a flash mob crossed with a Gap ad.
A dance number on an abandoned pier begins with three men and one woman who are later joined by more male dancers.
The next dazzling group dance takes place in a school gymnasium and is followed by a couple dancing on abandoned railroad tracks overgrown with weeds. The final group number, in which the dancers are all dressed in jeans and white T-shirts, is set in an empty auditorium and takes place on a stage, making excellent use of light and shadows.
This is a choreographed love letter to New York. DVD extras include a director’s cut by Matt Wolf and Anna Farrell, the 1958 doc “Jerome Robbins’ Ballets: USA” and more.
