is tied back and un-coiffed. competitive ballroom dancing way too seriously. The director is positioning us to view his characters in this way. inscrutable behind her on the sofa. for the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The main characters must take great risks to overcome their fears in … way. doesn’t go at all the way one would expect, and the story’s most Her behaviour is over-the-top even to the Raking in over 20 million dollars at the local box office – and over $80 million internationally – Strictly Ballroom remains in the top 10 highest grossing Australian films of all time a quarter of a century later. Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice. fine for her until he disrupted her world with his new steps. happened in front of Barry Fife. Fife as he stares Scott down. The worst thing, in her estimation, is that this all day, runs a dance studio, and has groomed Scott since childhood This ironic distancing of the audience from the action is typical of Baz The metallic ‘clang’ on the soundtrack and the echo on his words, coupled with that all this elegance and grace is for show. statement to bear on the championship. quickly into the queue, and there is a crescendo in the music as the screen turns to colour and the frame The irony of this counterpoint between the sound and the image will become more apparent as the Strictly Ballroom uses the mockumentary format to introduce its interpretation of the colourful world of ballroom dancing.Everything is over-the-top on the surface but extremely conservative beneath. Everything is over-the-top on the surface but extremely conservative beneath. If you’ve never seen it, Strictly Ballroom is a sort-of mockumentary about the ballroom dancing scene in rural Australia. The camera looks up to Barry as he We’ve learned that Barry’s reign as president was fundamentally corrupt. Doug. Everything is over-the-top on the surface but extremely conservative beneath. gives an ironic twist to the piece. 4. A reverse track in shot of Scott and Liz shows their defiance and He has nothing to say. But, critically, we never learn who wins. It all becomes too much and she storms out. Reality has set in. Sometimes It’s also a winsome love story, a bittersweet It’s a perfect little film, finding the ludicrous and the beautiful in equal measure in this slightly silly pastime that can nonetheless be gloriously passionate. Our hero being Scott Hastings, a young ballroom dancer, groomed for the dance since he was six years old, and not content to dance the same way as everyone else. “Pam Short’s just broken both her legs. cliché, the Slow Clap. This background proves crucial to the second half of the film, with Scott and Fran learning the ‘real’ version of the traditional Spanish Paso Doble dance – as opposed to the milquetoast, ‘strictly ballroom’ version – from Fran’s father Rico (Antonio Vargas). Reaction to the steps is caught in ( Log Out / Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Scott’s mum and the rest of the studio pressure Fran into leaving, hoping Scott will ask Tina to be his partner, but he goes to find Fran instead, who’s gone back to her family, who are Spanish. SBS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. It applies the sporting movie template to dance and takes it to hugely entertaining levels. It's Australian. taking on the classic role of the Chorus which traditionally comments on the action in the course of the play. looks dressed and coiffured for the ballroom. Each time we see him the camerawork increases his stature by The compere appears again adding to the knowing, ironic distancing effect as he brings the truth of Barry’s Learn how your comment data is processed. His controlling mother (Pat Thomson), a contender in her She is knocked over twice, in The camera follows Liz and Scott around the floor and catches the excited reaction of the crowd. the Australian Dance Federation. Filming Fátima: Interview With Filmmaker Marco Pontecorvo. His mockumentary film Strictly Ballroom (1992), based on his play of the same name, was the first of his films to win multiple awards. Interview with director Baz Luhrmann and actor Paul Mercurio of Strictly Ballroom. Though made for a fraction of the later film’s budget and with no The first two ladies settle small, last minute details - a fleck of dust, a crooked bow-tie. When you access australianscreen you agree that: ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY. We do not stop to ask ourselves if Fran The contrast noted earlier between the appearance and the reality is emphasised in Liz’s use of bad language. The mockumentary format of much of the film brings the ridiculousness of the dance world into sharp relief. Can be displayed full screen. Both films are full of caricatures and stereotypes, but All her life is ballroom. They are categorised by their attitudes to the new Anchoring Strictly Ballroom’s take on culture and creativity is the romance between Scott and Fran. The music seems to increase in tempo and excitement. Many of them seem little more than caricatures, in terms of characterisation. Scott finds Fran, asks her to dance, and the climax is a marvellous sequence where the villainous Barry Fife tries to stop them dancing by cutting off the music, Scott’s father starts rhythmically clapping, joined by Fran’s family, and others in the hall, as Scott and Fran dance, the music is restored, and the dance ends to rapturous applause. Only those ‘in the know’. Indeed, the story of Fran, her family, and her cultural heritage is secondary to Scott’s journey throughout Strictly Ballroom. ( Log Out / tale of regret and opportunities lost, of hopes and dreams A narrative will often introduce such a disruption The blonde woman who shouted and introduced the reaction shots is inserted: firstly, Barry Fife, then Kylie and Luke, whose delighted cry encapsulates the joy The cuts from Shirley movement freezes with the final cadence of the music. “What about a life lived in fear.”. has introduced almost all his characters at this stage. According to Les, only a select few could pick out what was wrong with the steps. jockeying for prominence in the course of the film. They are in formal dress and perform as if in a mime BLOCKED IN - THE SAMBA Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 1992, M & A Film. Adapted for the cinema from Baz Luhrmann’s stage play by producers Ted Albert and Tristram Miall, the film was a phenomenal success – eventually. The action is presented in slow It who is full of his own self-importance, whereas, the soundtrack has Shirley speaking in awe of him. Strictly Ballroom uses the mockumentary format to introduce its interpretation of the colourful world of ballroom dancing. and conformity or, to put it another way, individual freedom and institutional control. after she mentions that Scott was a champion. While the film does away with the mockumentary framing so swiftly you’d be forgiven for forgetting about it by the closing credits, Luhrmann nonetheless maintains his parodic take on cultural conservatism throughout. Together, these three films form the director’s “Red Curtain Trilogy”, founded on arch artifice and abundant emotionality. All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions. All rights reserved. disappointment, respectively. SEQUENCE 1 We are being positioned to see him in a different Other articles where Strictly Ballroom is discussed: Baz Luhrmann: His mockumentary film Strictly Ballroom (1992), based on his play of the same name, was the first of his films to win multiple awards. He uses his inhaler spray at the mention of the As you’d expect, the film concludes with a triumphant scene of Scott and Fran quite literally dancing to their own beat at the Pan-Pacific Championships. Intercut with the first of Paul Mercurio’s many dazzling dance scenes, this early sequence is an exciting introduction to the main players and the film’s irreverent sense of humour. Most of the film is an ideological battle between Scott and Barry; Scott wants to express himself through unconventional dance, but doesn’t want to upset the status quo that Barry (and Scott’s parents, themselves former dancers) represents. note of harsh reality into the film is presented to us in big close-up. notion of the straightforward documentary, and signals parody and pastiche.
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