Year: 1992 (although it feels like 1988)
Accolades: Best Picture Winner at the AFI Awards; One of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die; Classic Australian Cinema
Review on Letterboxd: "Strictly Ballroom" review by Avalanche
I went into this film thinking I would hate it, but was pleasantly surprised by the oddball, almost surreal humour and mockumentary style of the first act. I was really hoping the film could sustain this all the way through but once the second act kicked in it was as if the film completely forgot the tone it had started out with.
It becomes a much more stock standard love story and dance film. The plot revelations in the third act can't save it from becoming frustratingly linear, and just when you're hoping that the villains of the film get their comeuppance, the film ends in a fashion that is incredibly anticlimactic. I suppose it's meant to be poetic or something, but I just found it frustrating.
There are some things to like about the film. It's very well shot and framed, with artistic use of staging and lighting, not just in the dance scenes but in the normal dramatic scenes as well. For the most part, the dialogue and mannerisms of most of the characters don't feel too stereotypically Australian, although it does border on it at times.
The same can not be said of the soundtrack. The use of contemporary songs ends up sounding more like the playlist of a drunken karaoke night at times. I found the songs, at times, almost cringeworthy and very stereotypical of the time period.
It's not to say that this is a bad film. It's certainly a well made film and I can understand the appeal it has for those who like it. It just didn't appeal to me.
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