Only one or two criticisms

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2000)

What this movie does well it does extremely well. The scene of Billy's acceptance or non-acceptance into the ballet academy is exquisitely drawn out, just like the biggest events of our lives often are. The few times the kid smiles are totally natural and come from the scene, so when he does it's bright and warm. My main objection is that there's an overload of anger in this film: Angry father, angry older brother, angry kid. That could and should have been cut back about 25%. Then, as far as the dancing, I didn't quite believe the mix of ballet, tap, swing and stomp, which was quite a hodgepodge. But to get back to what works and is much appreciated, when the bus pulls away and the (still angry) older brother is unable to look directly at Billy, I ached for the connection that wasn't happening. Those are the moments on screen, far more than ANY special effects or pyrotechnics, that honor the possibilities of film-making. On my scale of 1-10, overall an 8.5.