Billy Elliot (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Featurette-Billy Elliot: Breaking Free (21:35) Theatrical Trailer-(2:27) Production Notes Biographies-Cast & Crew Notes-DVD Newsletter DVD-ROM Extras-Web Site Mirror
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	105:53
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (56:22)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Stephen Daldry
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Julie Walters Jamie Bell Jamie Draven Gary Lewis Jean Heywood Stewart Wells
Case	?
RPI	$36.95	Music	Stephen Warbeck

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Danish Finnish Swedish Norwegian German Dutch Polish Hungarian	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, during credits

    Set in 1984 in the midst of Thatcherite economic rationalism, the story is placed in the mining town of Durham in the Northeast of England. The Elliot family are a coal mining family: the father Jackie (Gary Lewis) and his elder son Tony (Jamie Draven) are out on strike, and with their union, they are playing a patience game with the government over the control of the mines. Their mother passed away some time before the story starts, leaving Billy (Jamie Bell) to look after their senile grandmother, and to try and fend for himself in a tough world where his destiny is to join his family's menfolk as a coal miner.

    One day, as Billy is receiving his regular beating at boxing classes (he's a crap boxer, but he won't admit it), he catches sight of Mrs Wilkinson's (Julie Walters') ballet class, and his imagination is caught by the expression, the grace, and the music. So, he covertly swaps his boxing gloves for ballet shoes: after all, no miner wants to see his son dancing... why that's for poofs, and lads should be playing football, wrestling, or seeking some other such macho pursuit. But, to coin a phrase, Billy's just "gotta dance", and the music just sets him off. Thus commences a struggle against his family, his gender, and his surroundings (with the help of the good old crusty teacher with the heart of gold) that just may lead Billy to the Royal School of Ballet.

    Billy Elliot had the potential to fall into a number of clichéd genres: underdog, despite his surroundings, just has to keep dancing his way to fame and fortune. Rather, it is the boy's surroundings that make him who he is, and dance is just his way of expressing his feeling and individuality. The film also touches on a number of political themes, as well as those relating to gender stereotypes, but the rhetoric is never forced: rather, it flows naturally from the situations and the drama. So although the makers also push a number of buttons in the viewer (it is extremely emotionally involving) it never feels like that there is a technique involved in bringing on the tear-jerking reactions. This is the difference between an average movie and a good one.

    Thirteen year old and first time actor Jamie Bell pulls off an amazing feat in the title role. It is truly a joy to watch him, and he is eminently believable as the boy from whom the urge to dance springs. Oscar nominated for her part, Julie Walters (Educating Rita) is excellent as Billy's inspiration and surrogate mother, in a role that could easily have lapsed in to cheesiness. On that score, director Stephen Daldry (a noted theatre director but in his first feature) also does well to avoid the odour of cheese, and presents a tale that is touching, humorous, and almost altogether without cliché.

Video

    The transfer exhibits a nice degree of sharpness, and plenty of detail. There is the hint of grain in many scenes, but this was a stylistic addition to the source material rather than a transfer flaw: being set in the early 80s, the filmmakers seem to have been attempting to give the movie a look consistent with the time. Shadow detail is superb throughout, and I did not spot any low level noise.

    As with the grain mentioned above, and due to the fact that the movie is set in a fairly dreary mining town in the North of England, there isn't too much in the way of bright colours, and various shades of grey dominate. In the occasional scene where there is bright light and colour, the palette is represented warmly, but not overly vibrantly, probably for the reasons set out above.

    There were no MPEG artefacts on display. There were, though, a number of minor instances of aliasing, such as at 6:14, 13:20, 16:48, 65:28 on striped shirts, at 12:00 on a car, at 52:56 on a wire mesh, and at 72:50 to 73:25 on a bus. Film artefacts were a little too regular for my liking in light of the recent age of the source material, but most were solitary with the exception of a flurry between 12:13 and 12:20. There was also a little telecine wobble in the opening seconds with the frame advising of the setting of the film.

    This disc is RSDL formatted, with the layer change during Chapter 10 at 56:22. It is placed mid-scene, but it occurs at a relatively still point, so is not too much of a distraction.
 

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    (Ed. It is possible that another English language only version of this disc has been released. Readers requiring the German audio track are advised not to purchase this DVD until this can be clarified.)

    Subject to the thick Northern English accents on offer, the dialogue was reasonably easy to understand. There were a couple of lines that were spoken a little too quietly in light of the music playing, but these were the exceptions rather than the rule. I did not notice any problems with audio sync.

    There is lots of music in the movie, but there is little in the way of traditional scoring. Rather, there is lots of in-movie music, ranging from Swan Lake to lots of T-Rex and some of The Jam and The Clash. What is there comes from Stephen Warbeck (Quills), who does well to avoid the heart swelling orchestrals that this type of movie could have contained, and concentrates on subtlety.

    There wasn't really too much to occupy the surrounds, with the mix being quite front heavy. When they are needed, though (such as in the picket line scenes) they spring into life, and for the remainder they provide a little atmosphere in the scenes set in large halls.

    Neither was there much opportunity from the subwoofer to get too involved (except in the music).

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Featurette - Billy Elliot: Breaking Free (21:35)

Theatrical Trailer (2:27)

Production Notes

Cast and Filmmaker Bios

DVD-ROM Features

DVD Newsletter

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall