With the surprising and somewhat baffling continuing popularity of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, it’s perhaps fitting that Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom has finally been released on Blu-ray. This was the director’s first feature film, but watching it, one can certainly see the seeds of ideas that would be incorporated into his subsequent movies, particularly Moulin Rouge! His interests in combining melodramatic excess with sentimental, simplistic romance are rougher and cruder in Strictly Ballroom, and he’s working with a much lower budget while developing his own unique technique which here is less refined but curiously appealing in its starkness and artful posturing. While his later films have shown his tendency toward excessive flair and dramatic license taken to the nth degree, Strictly Ballroom shows us those were facets of his directorial style from the beginning and are among the things that make a film which he’s directed uniquely Luhrmann.
Studio: Lionsgate
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Rating: PG
Run Time: 1 Hr. 34 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
keep caseDisc Type: BD25 (single layer)
Region: A
Release Date: 04/30/2013
MSRP: $14.99
The Production Rating: 3.5/5
Video Rating: 3.5/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 3.5/5
Special Features Rating: 3.5/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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