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Billy Elliot

2000

Stephen Daldry

Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven ...

7.4

72,255

Drama. Comedy Billy (Jamie Bell), through his unexpected love of dance, embarks on a journey of self-discovery in the world of picket lines, cultural stereotypes, a family in crisis and a headstrong ballet teacher. When eleven-year-old Billy stumbles across a local ballet class that comes to share the village hall with his boxing club, something in the magic of the movements captures his imagination, and he's soon ditching his boxing gloves to sneak ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Lisa Alspector Chicago Reader	"The assumption that ballet is studied only by effeminate if not homosexual men (...) is debunked with unusual subtlety in the movie, a delicate balance of fantasy and realism, caricature and character study"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"[It] has a freshness that makes it a pleasure to watch; it's a very emphatic success."	POS
United States	David Rooney Variety	"Daldry makes all the right moves in his delightful debut (...) [It] strikes a delicate balance of comedy and pathos with an uplifting final act that delivers a resoundingly satisfying emotional payoff"	POS
United Kingdom	Caroline Westbrook Empire	"Those who have lost faith in the British Film Industry, prepare to have it restored (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	A. O. Scott The New York Times	"After a while the movie gains confidence in itself, and the fates of the characters, though still unsurprising, begin to feel real and consequential"	POS
United States	Stephen Hunter The Washington Post	"The scenes of Billy's home life (...) are played for real: unvarnished, raw, bitter, frequently violent (...) Meanwhile, a lot of the ballet scenes are romanticized, and the dances that Billy performs feel phony, unreal, unbelievable"	NEU
United Kingdom	William Gallagher BBC	"It's the best British movie for years - and certainly more movingly told than 'The Full Monty' (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"Jamie Bell is an engaging Billy, earnest and high-spirited, and a pretty good dancer, too (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Charlotte O'Sullivan The Independent	"'Billy Elliot' doesn't push you anywhere you don't want to go (...) It's as raw a slice of escapism as you could wish for."	POS

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