Unprepossessed, humorous and genuinely moving

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2005)

There are so many things that could have gone terribly wrong with this film. It could have turned out as dreary, faux-realist prole-pornography. It could have turned out as a swooning paean on Northern English sensibility, replete with postcard cinematography. It could have turned out as a grimly activist protest against bourgeois conformism and capitalist oppression.
It turns out to be an aptly scored, superbly acted and strikingly shot masterpiece. Vividly edited and briskly plotted, we follow young Billy as he fumbles his boxing lessons and discovers ballet during the great miner's strikes in the 80s.
The inevitable tension that develops between Billy and his father is played out among a cast of memorable characters: Billy Fane's appearance as the seedy, misanthropic piano player is brief but hilarious; Julie Walters' rendition of the chain-smoking ballet teacher is simply iconic.
The depth and detail in this movie evoke countless bittersweet images: the way Billy's gritty neighbourhood is framed so as to show the majestic and tranquil sea in the distance, glistening with Olympian indifference; the menacing, surreal omnipresence of authority in the form of the British police force; the dignified despair of a town library which has been relegated to a mobile home.
Unprepossessed, humorous and genuinely moving.