COMPOSITION # 3: BILLY ELLIOT

Daldry, Stephen. 2000. Billy Elliot. United Kingdom: Universal Pictures

I don’t want a childhood I want to be a ballet dancer.

Billy Elliot is one of those films which once you see it you can either love it or hate it, but it does leave no one indifferent. It is, in general, a film of extremes: it is a very educational movie, since it can teach children to follow their dreams and to break away from stereotypes, but, on the other hand, it is full of swearwords. In addition, I am sure that you will laugh, but you will cry for twice as well.

During the 1984 Miner’s Strike, Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell), the eleven-year-old son of a coal miner, discovers how much ballet amazes him. He decides to stop taking boxing lessons and to start taking ballet lessons with the strict but caring local teacher, Ms. Wilkinson. When his father (Gary Lewis) discovers such a feminine hobby, forbids Billy to come back to ballet lessons and forces him to stay at home taking care of his forgetful grandmother (Jean Heywood). Nevertheless, Billy continues dancing and Ms. Wilkinson encourages him to make an audition in the Royal Ballet School. Things change when Billy’s father discovers his son’s talent.

First, we should mention the difficulty to change the social position in the 80’s: Billy is predestined to become a coal miner, since he lives in north England where mining is the common industry, his father and his brother are coal miners and that is what everybody expects from him. However, fathers always dream to see their children more successful than they are, and especially to see them fulfilling the dreams that they could not achieve in their youth. Moreover, children do not want to disappoint their family: Billy is always thinking of what his father would think about his passion.

Secondly, we should talk about female and male roles. Not many years ago (and even in the present days) society marked which hobbies were made for women and which ones were made for men. For instance, if a woman played football or boxing, which were only for men, she would be considered a tomboy and if a boy danced ballet he would be a sissy. There was a kind of rule which related the activities people used to do with their sexual orientation. Fortunately, this rule has been disappearing gradually and this film wants to deny categorically this kind of urban legend with two main characters: Billy and Michael. The first dances ballet but he is not gay, whereas the former does not dance ballet and he is gay though.

In the third place, I would like to focus on the main message in this film that is to follow our dreams. To find a truly passion is really difficult and there are many people who live all their lives without achieving any special passion or ability. Billy knows it and, for that reason, he fights to follow his dreams and to become a successful ballet dancer. Dancing is a kind of secret force which entered to his body and was stronger than him, it makes him forget everything – all the troubles that he has in his life: his father and brother disappointment, miners’ strike, how he miss his mother, his grand-mother’s illness… It does not matter how depressing his life could be, ballet is the light which lights it up. And all those are the things which made it worthy to fight.

It is important to emphasize the main role, since Jamie Bell gives an excellent performance as Billy due to the determination and passion that he shows.  Although this was his first film, his way of acting shows that this role was quite easy for him. This may be because his childhood was quite similar to Billy’s: both of them lost one of their parents – Billy’s mother was dead and Jamie’s father abandoned his mother before he was born – and both of them dance by chance – Billy discovered dancing when he was in boxing lessons and Jamie discovered it when he accompanied his sister to ballet lessons.

I cannot end a review of Billy Elliot without talking about music. It is very important in this film, the OST is really good and it goes from pop music of the 80’s, which shows the spirit of this period, to classical music. I recommend you to pay special attention to the Swan’s Lake of Tchaikovsky, because it has a very strong meaning.

COMPOSITION #2: BIG FISH.

Burton, Tim. 2003. Big Fish. USA: Columbia Pictures. Film

“There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they are faster or stronger than other fish, they're just touched by something extra.”

When I went to the cinema with my family to see Big Fish for the first time, none of us understood it. I was 11 years old and I continuously wondered “Finally, did it really happen or not?” But I did not think very much about that. I preferred other types of films, those in which the plot is easy and you did not have to think very much. Nevertheless, when I had seen this film among those offered to make our reviews, I wanted to see it: “Maybe this time I can understand it” I thought. Finally, I am pleased to have done it, because I have discovered a delightful and haunting story that will remain in my mind for many years.

Magical and moving are the best adjectives to describe this film, which basically talks about the reconciliation between a dying father and his sceptical son. It was very special for its director, Tim Burton, since his parents died little time before he started to direct the film. It has two different faces: on the one hand, it gave a little dose of moving reality and, on the other hand, we enjoy several minutes of amusing fantasy. This mixture may be the reason why Big Fish had seven nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, four for the Golden Globe Award, two for the Saturn Adward, one for the Oscars and one for the Grammy Award.

Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is a dreamy man who loves telling tall stories about his life. His son, Will (Billy Crudup), gets angry when his father tells a fantastic tale about his birth in his wedding. Because of that, Will does not speak to Edward and they maintain contact only through his mother (Jessica Lange). When his father is about to die, Will travels home from Paris, where he lives and works as a journalist, and tries to get to know his true father’s life piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of the amazing adventures that Edward has been telling him since he was a child. In this way, we discover that Edward (Ewan McGregor) left home in search of adventures when he was a young man: he saw his death in a witch’s eye, he travelled with a giant, he discovered a werewolf, he made a promise to a little girl in a town where no one wears shoes, he found a highly unusual singing Siamese twin act and he did everything he could to marry Sandra Templeton (Alison Lohman), the love of his life, who is engaged to someone else.

This film talks about many important issues that should be remarked. The first and most important one is the distancing between a father and a son, which makes up the main plot. Will thinks that his father is a liar and that he concocts all the stories that he tells. He thinks that Edward has not looked after his family and, even, that he has had an affair. Will feels that he does not have anything in common with his father: Edward was a salesman who liked to tell stories and Will is a journalist who works telling the facts as they actually are. In fact, he became a journalist because he was fed up with Edward’s tall stories. At first, when he was a little child he trusted his tales, but as he grew up he started not to believe them anymore and he wanted to know the true story. He does not matter how disappointing it could be, he just want to know the real facts in his father’s life.

Secondly, in the flashbacks we have, for instance, a very important point of view about death. When Edward was a child, he saw in a witch’s eye how he would die but he was not afraid at all. Actually, it seems like he is not upset about having that fate. This fact is an important key that can reveal you why Edward lives like that, without fear. The search for the American dream is another important issue. When Edward was a child, he grew up faster than the others and he read that if you keep a type of fish (the goldfish) in a small bowl it will remain small but with more space, the fish can grow the double, triple or quadruple its size. That fact made him understand that his village, Ashton, was too little for him and he went in search for adventures with a giant who was sowing the pain. There are some other important issues like the corruption of culture – a poet from Edward’s village will became a thief – and the hidden town of Spectre, which is one of the most characteristic scenes of Big Fish. Nonetheless, one of the points that I have liked the most is the eternal love that Edward professes to his wife. It is one of the most beautiful love stories that I have found in a film. It brings a lot of sweet scenes like when he shouts her that he wants to marry her and covers her garden with her favourite flowers.

To sum up, Big Fish has been criticised for being incomprehensible, utterly endless, prone to fantasizing and a little childish, but, however, I would recommend you this film for four reasons: first, you will find wonderful performances that will impress you like a charming McGregor, a mysterious  DeVito and specially an entertaining Finney; second, you will find a moving film that probably will make you cry; third, you will discover amusing and original adventures that probably will make you laugh; and, finally and most important, because there is a very shocking end that I have not told you. 

COMPOSITION #1: LOST IN TRANSLATION.

Coppola, Sofia. Lost in translation. 2003. Tokyo: Focus Features.

Tokyo. Two strangers. The man is called Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and he is a film actor far past his prime who appears in a Japanese whisky commercial. The woman is called Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) and she is a young college graduate in philosophy. Bob is tolerating a mediocre marriage and Charlotte is married with a busy celebrity photographer. He is in mid-life crisis and she doesn’t know what to do with her life. They feel alone and confused in a foreign country until they meet in the hotel bar and she invites him to go out with some Japanese friends. Then, a real friendship begins but, is it just a friendship?

This is the plot of a film that does not seem to be a film. Actually, it seems to be a documentary about Japanese culture and cultural shock; an album of Japanese cosmopolitan landscapes or even a mute film. It is unlike any other film I have ever seen: it is a comedy that makes you laugh but it speaks about melancholy or loneliness and makes you think too. For instance, you may burst out laughing because Bob does not know how to use a sports machine and suddenly you may cry with Charlotte's sadness. These 102 minutes of bitter-sweet flavour may be the reason why this film earned an Oscar, three Gold Globes and three BAFTA in year 2003.

The Coppola’s dreamy film focuses on two main topics. In the first place, it talks about the (apparently) biggest problem of the two main characters: language misunderstandings and cultural shock. In fact, the difference between English and Japanese languages is showed to us in a very funny way. For example, a lot of words in Japanese only mean a couple of words in English and they say “l” instead of “r” when they speak an occidental language. There are a lot of cultural differences too, as the world-known raw food or the Japanese crazy TV shows.
However this film goes further away and tells us how two completely unknown people can feel so close to each other speaking the same language in a country that it doesn’t. They are like students in a language exchange who tend to mix with people from their same country.

Secondly, the other main topic is love: a subtle love not materialised. Both main characters are trapped in marriages without love: Charlotte feels that her husband only cares about silly models and Bob only talks with his wife about stupid things like carpets. At first, they feel like accomplices in an unknown culture, then they become friends and finally, do they fall in love? In my opinion, the relationship between the two main characters is only friendship and admiration. Charlotte finds Bob a mature man with life experience who makes her laugh and Bob rejuvenates with Charlotte's company. I cannot imagine Charlotte and Bob leaving their respective couples and having a relationship in the United States. That love could take place only in Japan where things are easier.

Finally, I would like to focus on three moments that are the keys for this, love story? First, when they chat in bed about the experience of having children and Bob caress Charlotte’s foot; the second when he puts her in bed after the crazy party and the third their goodbye when, do they kiss? Well you will have to watch the film to discover that!

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