Here's one of those out of the blue surprises. Strictly Ballroom is a wonderful piece about staying true to one's self self against a backdrop of competitive ballroom dance.

Scott (Paul Mercurio) is descended from a line of champion ballroom dancers. But Scott would like to break out and add to the official moves. He receives stern looks from his mother, and verbal warnings from his trainer when ever he strays from the prescribed routine.

Scott is so fed up with the rules, he's ready to compete and be disqualified. And in fact he looses a partner over his new moves. Enter Fran (Tara Morice) a student who seems to have two left feet until she works with Scott. Fran is not afraid to do the new moves because she was so terrible at the old moves. Together she and Scott explore their dance and their feelings for each other.

This really is a monumental film. Besides having interesting characters and a plot with believable conflict, our appetite for action is satisfied by the dance. The music keeps the pace moving. finally, there's some great humor tossed in. Director and principal writer Baz Luhrmann deserves much credit for building such a complete package. This is by far a better film than most you will see this year.