English Name: Billy Elliot
Alias: Ballet Dreams Dancing Life
Release Date: 2000
Film Director: Stephen Daldry
Film Cast:
Jamie Bell
Julie Walters
Gary Lewis
Jamie Draven
Jean Heywood
Region: USA
Language: English
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BILLY ELLIOT is translated in China as "Ballet Dreams or "Dance Out of My World", tells the story of an 11-year-old boy, BILLY ELLIOT, who breaks through many obstacles to pursue his dream of ballet.
BILLY was born in a small town in the north of England when the British coal miners went on strike in 1984. BILLY's father and older brother were miners, and in order to fight against the police, they preferred BILLY to be strong. So despite the family's difficulties, they managed to spare 50 pence a week to send BILLY to boxing lessons. But BILLY had no interest in boxing; his mother died young, leaving him with a piano on which BILLY would always lie down and play out-of-tune songs; he was born with a love of music and dancing.
At boxing class, BILLY happened to see girls practicing ballet next door, and little BILLY was fascinated. From then on, every weekend, BILLY uses the money from his boxing lessons to sneak off to dance lessons. His father and brother are furious when they find out about this, and the persuasion of his ballet teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson, doesn't help, and BILLY sinks into a mental slump.
On Christmas night, BILLY is discovered by his father while playing with his partner in the dance studio. Instead of backing down in the face of his father's anger, young BILLY exerts everything he has learned over the past few months in front of his father. In the end, the stubborn father is blown away by his son's passion and talent for dancing. Because Mrs. Wilkinson had suggested that BILLY study at the Royal Ballet School, his father returned home, pawned his wife's watch and gold jewelry, and sent BILLY to London to take the entrance exam.
After the exam, BILLY had no idea that he would be accepted, but the offer came in the mail and his father and brother saw him off. When BILLY's train is far away and the picture is clear again it's 14 years later and the pair walk off the London Underground to see BILLY perform. The Royal Ballet, with the adult BILLY played by ADAM COOPER, dances AMP's SWAN LAKE.
I'll be honest and admit that I watched this film solely because of ADAM COOPER.
COOPER is a favorite of mine, having been a pillar of The Royal Ballet (who retired from the company in '97), and he danced the role of BILLY in November '95.
The Royal Ballet is the only company in London that has ever made a performance of BILLY, and he is the only one who has ever made a performance of it. MATTHEW BOURNE directed and choreographed the London premiere of the male version of Swan Lake (AMP SWAN LAKE), and COOPER's charismatic portrayal of MALE SWAN was a perfect combination of strength, freedom and independence.
He went to the Royal Ballet School that year, as did little BILLY, so it was natural to imagine BILLY as him when watching the movie, but COOPER's father was a dance teacher, and his brother studied ballet with him at the time, so he was much happier than BILLY, who wasn't understood by his father or brother. And therein lies the problem for BILLY: not only his father and brother, who are miners, but also himself, who believes that all men who dance ballet are "POOF". It's a y ingrained notion.
If you've seen AMP's Swan Lake, if you love to dance, you'll be blown away by COOPER. When he dances, with just one small movement, every muscle in his body moves and has an expression, so it's no wonder that some people comment that when they watch him perform, it feels like even his back is in the theater. Just as little BILLY described, when he dances, his mind goes blank, he doesn't think about anything, he just feels like the whole world has disappeared, and he himself is just like a little bird, with electric current passing through his body, he is flying.
COOPER jumped the swan full of male charm, let him play the adult BILLY, and then jump this Swan Lake, all about "POOF" all the scruples have disappeared, the fact that once again proved that the ballet can also be a man's dance. The elegance of the swan and the masculine beauty of the male human body is completely blended together, so that you can not imagine that is a person, you only know that is a swan, MALE SWAN, especially in the final fourth act of the death of the swan, COOPER's dance is heartbreakingly beautiful.
BILLY heard Swan Lake for the first time, and the film at the time showed giant tankers on the harbor, a completely industrial port with a few occasional white seagulls skimming over the shore. It is in this scene, which is almost completely at odds with the soundtrack, that Mrs. Wilkinson tells BILLY the story of the swan. She speaks of ODETTE the swan, and she speaks of herself. She says the swan knew the opportunity was coming, but the prince eventually abandoned her, so the swan died.
Grandma says, "I could have been a professional dancer," and even her brother, who loved rock and roll, and her mother, who loved music but is now deceased, perhaps all of them had dreams of being swans. But they either because of the environment, or because of their own, and ultimately can only watch the dream die. BILLY is happy, he has a good father who understands him, he met a good teacher, he seized the opportunity of the examination of the Royal Ballet Academy, he jumped out of his hometown town, he jumped into the Greater London, he jumped on the stage of the Emperor. He finally accomplished the swan's dream, and he became the ODETTE in everyone's dream.
The highlight of the movie is the several dances of little BILLY, no matter it's the tap jumps that he expresses his mood, or the casual play during the exam, his informal dance is full of vigor and enthusiasm, and the arrogance of never giving in. That gamely serious look on Christmas Eve, when he strained his face to show himself in front of his father, that was the persistence and determination to pursue his dream, he was really fantastic.
"When you make up your mind to accomplish something, the whole world unites to help you." Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho said so. So on that snowy night, the father, finally recognizing his son's talent as a dancer, rushed to Wilkinson's house overnight to inquire about the cost of exams in London. He declined his wife's help and instead went back to pawn his late wife's jewelry, saying, "BILLY is my son."
On that same bitter Christmas Eve, when the family ran out of coal because of a strike by coal absentees, his father smashed the piano and chopped down wood to keep warm. His expression and gestures as he pulls out his late wife's jewelry ...... are truly pathetic. It sounds a bit like "Be With You", but director Chen reportedly claimed that he didn't like "BILLY ELLIOT". He hated the overly "worldly" success of the movie, so he ended up sending Haru back to his father.
Of course, Haru's D major at the train station with Old Chai was stunning, but I preferred COOPER's leap in the air. If BILLY doesn't end up passing the Royal Ballet Academy, there's nothing left in the world to look forward to. Before our dreams are dashed, please leave it to us to envision!
BILLY ELLIOT is a very good movie, a pursuit of the dream fable, touching. I myself is also the same in the road of the dream Mercedes, so on this kind of things are no resistance, novels such as "The Alchemist", comics such as "Legend of the Sword and the Wind" (the former has always been my favorite book, the latter of course, also became my favorite comics). At that time, when I watched little BILLY sneaking off to ballet class, when I watched his father not understanding him, when I watched him struggling with his inner pain, I immediately thought of Sigourney, which Jack London mentioned:
"He was but a little child, but he dreamed that he would become a great musician, and that all of Europe would fall at his feet. "
When ADAM COOPER (BILLY at age 25) makes his final appearance, the White Swan's leap, perfectly framed in the flashing lights, all of Europe is already at his feet.