(I'm secretly being paid by Mel to promote his film). :wink:
Well georgeob 1, Billy Elliott was a pretty big hit here in the States a few years ago. It's about a young British boy who wants to become a ballet dancer. He's got to deal with the usual bs from his father and brother but he falls in love with dancing and perseveres to a triumphant ending. The pride and admiration in his fathers' eyes are priceless.
"Saving Grace" is also about triumph. A prim and proper British woman, recently widowed, discovers that her husband has left her penniless and she's forced to do the only thing she knows how to do. An accomplished gardner, she decides to grow pot to support herself.
Don't know what it is about these movies that I adore so. Both of them were simple stories. Nothing elaborate about either one. Maybe that's what I liked about them.
"Billy Elliot" is an inspirational film and one of the finest coming-of-age stories ever committed to film. You didn't mention also that it deals with homosexuality in a very positive way.
Didn't want to give it ALL away, LW.
Some points about messages above. Very interested to see Valerie's Week of Wonders chosen by Hobitbob, as this a very little known but fascinating surreal Czech film, that few people have seen, well worth catching.
Alexander Nevsky is indeed one of several Eisenstein masterpieces (Battleship Potemkin, Ivan the Terrible 1&2 and Strike are all superb), and Prokofiev's score is great, but it's not silent. Eisenstein's reputation has dipped a little, but his contribution to the development of cinema was massive and extraordinary; i would place him among my 10 favourite directors.
