I lurves this movie. Having no soul myself, I find it impossible to pursue anything creative but I do so love to see artists at work. Especially dancing. I love watching movies and TV about dance, dancing, and dancers. I find it amazing to see what beautiful things people are capable of doing with their bodies. This was one of the very first films that I ever watched featuring ballroom dance. It's about Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio), a young dancer who is a serious contender in the Australian ballroom world until he bucks tradition and dances steps of his own design in competition. It's like if people were only allowed to paint in blue. There can be a lot of skill that goes into that, a lot of technical mastery, but it's not going to get the same effect if somebody brings a painting that has a full colored landscape. So the president of the Australian Dance Federation, Barry Fife (Bill Hunter) is willing to do whatever it takes to shun Scott back into toeing the party line. Unfortunately for Barry, Scott has just found a partner willing to not only indulge his habit, but encourage it in Fran (Tara Morice), an outcast from his mother's dance studio.
One of the things I really liked about this movie is Fran's transformation. She starts off godawful looking but by the end of the movie has morphed into, if not a hottie, an attractive woman. The changes are fairly subtle and nothing about it is mentioned. There's no big Walking Down the Stairs Slowly She's All That kind of moment where everyone realizes that the Nerdy Girl has become a fox. It's much more natural and I liked that a lot. This was the first of Baz Luhrman's Red Curtains trilogy and it's still one of my favorite Australian movies.
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