Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry) 2000
I really am not that impressed with a film that leaves the viewer NO room to
form an opinion contrary to what you're "Supposed to" feel. Stephen
Daldry's Billy Elliot is a film that'ss
so formulaic that it's really sad. Let's hope Daldry (making his directorial
debut here) doesn't try to apply this same approach to his adaptation of Mike
Cunningham's "The Hours". There are a few early scenes that show
Billy's discovery of ballet that really are something special, but even these
are cross cut with shots showing the police quelling a worker's rebellion. The
biggest problem with the film is that Billy is meant to stand for more than he
is. He's filling in as hope for an entire community here. His dad and brother
have resigned themselves to being coal workers. His teacher has a failed
marriage and teaches for 50 pence a lesson. His gay friend feels stifled by his
homosexuality and sees Billy as the only one who understands him. His
grandmother had hopes of being a pro dancer, but never got the training. Taken
one by one these subplots are fine, but the accumulation of them all makes the
film feel so forced that it really hurts the overall impact of Billy's dancing
glories. The film achieves its successes in the small moments of personal
discovery; the rest seems unnecessary.
The scenes simply work much better alone than in the framework of the picture
where they all combine to form mush despite the fact that there is little mush
contained in them individually. There's a good supporting performance by Julie
Waters. The rest of the cast is fine if unexceptional. It's hardly an awful
film, and I realize there is talent present, but I just with it wasn't all so
damn manipulative.
***