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Stricly Ballroom
On the surface, Strictly Ballroom, is an Australian film about the cutthroat world of competitive ballroom dancing, but really it’s an ugly duckling story set against the backdrop of the cutthroat world of competitive ballroom dancing. If you didn’t know that competitive Ballroom dancing existed, nevermind that it could be cutthroat, you’re not alone, and that’s one of the reasons that makes Strictly Ballroom dodgy.
With Baz Luhrman’s first outing as a director, there were no preconceived ideas about what style of film he would make. This was good. Parts of the movie were quite a visual assault, in the “My eyes, My eyes” kind of way. Fortunately, these were tempered with relatively normal scenes, allowing you to recover before the next attack.
The plot was there, and while not especially deep, it kept the movie flowing nicely. The story was a cross between the standard Ugly Duckling/Boy-Meets-Girl/Sporting-Hero-Learns-Lessons plotline, and yet they all mesh relatively well, so it feels like a single storyline.
Dodginess
While strictly ballroom takes place mainly between the competition dance floor and the dance studio, there is still a significant amount of dodginess. The costumes and cinematography manage to get this one a 4 on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scale. The dodginess builds to a peak when Barry Fife is telling Scott about his father’s history. At this point you realise that there is no way the film can get any dodgier. After that, the film kind of winds back to normality and wraps up all the story lines.
Rewatchability Rating
I find this one incredibly difficult to rate as far as rewatchability is concerned. Some days I could sit and rewatch it straight away, others I fail to make it through the first scene. Because of this I’m going to take the easy way out and rate this one a 3 on the rewatchability index.
Most Memorable Quote
The only really memorable quote from Strictly Ballroom would be far more at place on a motivational poster than in a dodgy movie. But, I don’t write the scripts. “A life lived in fear is a life half lived.”
Final Thoughts
You may love it, you may hate it, you may even oscillate between the two, but however you feel about Strictly Ballroom, you’ll have to concede that it’s dodgy, and if dodginess is your criteria for choosing what to watch, this one should make it’s way onto your viewing list.