Surprisingly and pleasantly cinematic. It's a shame it's so rushed.

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2013)

I remember when this came out and the adults around me were crazy about it. Unfortunately, I was only aware of the negative reputation the film had, I didn't realize this was a much grittier social commentary. The centrepiece of Billy Elliot are the performances, Jamie Bell is especially impressive for his age and perfectly expresses anguish and frustration. Julie Walters is charming and her scenes with Bell are a delight but the true underrated star is Gary Lewis, Billy's Dad, whose subtle performance is fascinating and incredible. It's a film with great production design too, as though Ken Loach went to Hollywood. Unfortunately, its problems lie with the screenplay, with rushed and brief development and a few too many montages. It struggles to establish things properly and develop things. When Billy was finally doing ballet, I didn't understand why, and it was a moment they saved for the climax that should have come to light immediately. It does have a few great movie magic moments as Billy defiantly dances in front of his father, but once his father came to believe in Billy, there felt little left to resolve to escalate on top of that. It does have a great soundtrack though, awesome use of "London Calling." Still better than I expected.
7/10