It's Grim Oop North

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2002)

BILLY ELLIOT is the latest in a succession of it's-grim-up-north-so-let's-do-something-heartwarming films. How does it stand up against BRASSED OFF and THE FULL MONTY?
Pretty well, is the answer. First-time director Stephen Daldry does a good job of presenting the simple story, although his lack of cinematic experience shows a bit, for example in the depiction of the flow of time. There are a couple of sequences where time passes, but this is not apparent to the viewer.
It's never difficult to find good actors for a low-budget British film of this kind and Daldry, who has a fine reputation for his theatre work, has assembled a good team here. Of course, the film's raison d'etre is Billy himself and Jamie Bell needs no further praise from me. A passionate and natural performer, he could hardly miss and he doesn't.
The film's biggest problem is its rating (15 UK, R USA). There's something wrong when a film can't be seen by its natural target audience (who are Billy's age of 11-12) simply because of the language that is used in it. Mr Daldry is used to the kind of freedom he has on stage, and no doubt did not want to compromise a good script by snipping out the strong language which is perfectly convincing in the context of the characters and the story. But would it really have done fatal damage to the film if the producers had listened to the film censors and taken whatever action was needed to get a 12 (USA PG-13) rating? I think not, and it's a pity that that wasn't done.
I still prefer BRASSED OFF, for its wider scope, but BILLY ELLIOT is well worth all the praise that has been lavished on it.