Billy Elliot, the musical in NYC- a review from 7/7-2009

I went to see the Billy Elliot musical in New York City this tuesday night at the Imperial Theatre. The story in the performance was following the film version closely but had at least one scene that was completely new. It is about the teenage boy Billy, who is growing up together with his father and brother in the coal mining district in England during the Thatcher-era. It´s a rather political drama going on underneath the main theme that is about Billy and his awakening interest for dancing. By chance he happens to visit the local dance school when there is a rehearsal going on with the girls. The dance teacher however notices that he could have some talent for dancing and makes him come back and try dancing a bit more. His narrow-minded father thinks he is attending the boxing class instead. Some complications arise of course when the dance teacher wants Billy to go to an audition in London at the Royal Ballet School.

In this particular performance, the role of Billy was played by David Alvarez, a young talent born to Cuban parents in 1994. He started ballet at the age of eight in Montreal and his family has lived in New York City since 2006, when he won a full scholarship to study classical ballet at the American Ballet Theatre´s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. With ABT, David has danced featured roles in ”Sleeping Beauty” and ”The Nutcracker”. He also studies piano on scholarship at the 92nd Street Y School of Music. In class, Alvarez is a sober, dedicated student, practicing his jumps on the sidelines when other groups take the floor. If he is lucky, he will eventually advance to ABT II, the junior troupe. If he is vey lucky, he will end up in the main Company.

As Billy he floats through high leaps and multiple turns with a plumed softness and an innocent uprightness. ”This”, the 14-year-old says of his exhilarating turn on Broadway, ”is just for once-once in a lifetime.” Ballet he hopes will be forever.

I liked this performance very much, and it´s wonderful to enjoy both very good dancing combined with good singing and acting at the same time. Together it´s a great show for the eyes. David Alvarez is dancing better than any boy in his age I have ever seen so far in Europe, and I will most certainly be following his dancing career from now on.

Lessons at the end of spring

Another Russian coming of age film, this one from 1989, where you sometimes in the dialogue can sense the fall of the Soviet union, even if the film is pre-perestrojka. Like most other Russian coming of age films, this one is also of high class, with excellent performances from for example the thirteen year old boy (played by Danya Tolkachev), but also from the other characters. The story is well written and the soundtrack quiet ok, especially towards the end. The film is about a boy who gets imprisoned after having attending a street riot on his way to the cinemas. We will then follow his days in prison, which can be a harsh place to be at his age.

* Country: Soviet Union

* Release: 1989

* Director: Oleg Kavun

* Actors: Danya Tolkachev

* Award: Promotional award, Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema

       

Photo: *****(excellent)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ****(very good)

Soundtrack: ***(good)

Total: ****(very good)

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Lessons at the end of spring” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

My life as a dog – Daniel Fridell is directing the follow up

The famous Swedish film ”My life as a dog” was an immediate success when it entered the cinemas in 1985, and got an Oscar nomination and the Golden globe prize. Anton Glanzelius is playing the main character as the 12-year-old boy ”Ingemar”. Now it´s time for the follow up, where we will follow the now 15-year-old Ingemar when he among other things is taking a  job at a ship that is sailing to Cuba, and the film will be set in both Sweden and Cuba. I´m looking forward to this follow up, and hope the cast and director will be as good as in the original movie!

Declan galbraith – An angel

30th Annual Young Artist Awards

 

Come and vote for your favourite young actors!

From Russia (with love) -Steklovata (song:Prosto Osen)

Follow you follow me

”Follow you follow me” is a British (rather) short film (35 minutes) from 1979. It´s a story about two schoolboys (teenagers) that despite coming from different socioeconomic circumstances are best mates. Joseph is the shy boy of the owner of a factory and Peter is the selfconfident and outgoing son of the common factory worker. Their friendship is in danger as there´s an upcoming conflict at the factory involving their fathers, who both sees the boys reflecting the other part, and not wanting them to see each other anymore. I don´t think that´s very uncommon, that parents want to choose the friends of their children, not realising that they have their own personalities and preferences. This is a rather realistically made film where I think you both get a realistic view of life in England at the time, and a good story without any real twists. It´s just a plain story about friendship between two teenage boys, no more, no less. The picture quality of the filmcopy I watched is not very great since I´m sure it´s made out of an older VHS. But it doesn´t matter since it´s the story that makes this film, and it wouldn´t have won any medals for the cinematography even if it had been shot in a highresolution format. For a short, it´s a well made film, that I would recommend.