It’s All Gone Pete Tong and Billy Elliot

So, time for another couple mini-reviews!

First, It’s All Gone Pete Tong is mildly black comedy about a superstar DJ who has to come to terms with the loss of his hearing. Certainly it’s an interesting premise, and when I saw the box at the video store I stopped looking at the other movies and went straight to the check-out line. I think my friend Sean recommended it to me at one point. He was right about 24 Hour Party People, so I had no reason to question his judgment. What surprised me most about this film was just how authentic they made the club scenes feel. As I found out later through the special features, that’s because they /actually/ *go* to Ibiza to film, and are actually in superclubs Cream and Amnesia on actual Friday and Saturday nights. I’m not really sure how to describe the film without giving too much away, but hopefully I’ve got you curious. I enjoyed it. 7.5/10.

Secondly, today, Yawen loaned me a few films, one of which was Billy Elliot. The premise is, a young boy from a blue-collar mining town takes up ballet lessons behind his family’s back, knowing they’ll disapprove. And he’s really good at it. Family in this case means older brother, Grandma, and Dad — Mom is no longer around for unexplained reasons. Basically, life is hard. I was skeptical before pushed “play”, but the film won me over. It’s got heart, it’s funny and it’s wonderfully told. Of course, with a premise like this one, it’s pretty hard to go wrong, but they certainly could have done worse. Highly recommended. 8.5/10.