The full Billy

>> Boyhood misery, ballet and a dash of Disney in Billy Elliot

by JOANNE LATIMER

When it comes to the cinematic chronicling of boyhood misery, you can't beat the Brits, the Irish and the Scots. Angela's Ashes is a hard act to follow, but now we have Billy Elliot--or Dancer, as it's known to the rest of the world.

In Billy, Frank McCourt's boys have a rival for our sympathies. Billy's a gem, choosing ballet over boxing--beating the prejudice of being labelled a "poofter" and escaping the gloom of his mining town.

Director Stephen Daldry opens the film with Billy (Jamie Bell) in the kitchen, cooking for his old Granny. The kitchen's filthy and all signs indicate that Billy's mother isn't around anymore. The family feels at the edge of ruin, as the father and older son take part in a bitter mining strike. The Elliots live in a slummy housing project, cramped and drafty, barely making ends meet. Billy's older brother, Donny, is the in-house thug, constantly threatening violence on the picket line and around the homestead.

The so-called "kitchen sink" style of U.K. cinema is behind Billy Elliot, if you ignore the dance numbers and the gorgeous cinematography. Oddly, there's even a whiff of Disney in this film, mixed in with a critique of Thatcherism and the class system. Daldry's film is more akin to The Full Monty than anything by Ken Loach, so adjust expectations accordingly.

Billy's ballet teacher, played by Julie Waters, gives him secret lessons to prepare him to audition for the National Ballet School. His dad (played by the amazing Gary Lewis) can't cope with having a boy in ballet, no wife, a dead-end job and a hotheaded son. The mix is also too much for Billy, who escapes into his world of dance.

The audience is all too ready to go there with him, where the colours are bright, the music is lively and the piano is used for something other than firewood. :

Billy Elliot opens Friday, Oct. 13