("I think there are two Ks in shokkin'"The Shadow of a Gunman
Sean O'Casey)
Sean O'Casey)
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Introducing *Strictly Ballroom*
Strictly Ballroom is one of my favorite movies. It's the first movie in what has come to be known as Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain trilogy, which also includes William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge. The movie started as a play that I think Baz and his friends wrote and performed while in college. It took a little while for me to win Michael over, but once he was won, he was won.
It is romantic, but as far as the storyline goes it is very conventional. It doesn't take long to figure out what kind of movie it is, and romantically there are no surprises. It is a light romance in that, while love is not treated as something trivial, there is no promise at the end that certain characters are destined to marry, though that is quite possible. There does seem to be a promise at the end that certain characters are going to stay married, which is one of my favorite things about the movie. The romance isn't the point.
Other than the storyline, I don't think that anything else about the movie is conventional. It is highly theatrical, and as its title would imply, involves a lot of dancing. If you know much about dancing yourself, you will quickly realize that most of the dancing is entirely made up for comic effect. If I remember correctly, only two of the actors in the film are real, true-to-life dancers.
Expect comedy (sometimes in the form of melodrama), expect wild costumes and make-up, and expect Australian actors. As I said, this is one of my favorite films.
It is romantic, but as far as the storyline goes it is very conventional. It doesn't take long to figure out what kind of movie it is, and romantically there are no surprises. It is a light romance in that, while love is not treated as something trivial, there is no promise at the end that certain characters are destined to marry, though that is quite possible. There does seem to be a promise at the end that certain characters are going to stay married, which is one of my favorite things about the movie. The romance isn't the point.
Other than the storyline, I don't think that anything else about the movie is conventional. It is highly theatrical, and as its title would imply, involves a lot of dancing. If you know much about dancing yourself, you will quickly realize that most of the dancing is entirely made up for comic effect. If I remember correctly, only two of the actors in the film are real, true-to-life dancers.
Expect comedy (sometimes in the form of melodrama), expect wild costumes and make-up, and expect Australian actors. As I said, this is one of my favorite films.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)