BOOTMEN
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Fox Searchlight Pictures Director: Dein Perry Writer: Steve Worland Cast: Adam Garcia, Sophie Lee, Sam Worthington, William Zappa, Lisa Perry, Anthony Hayes, Richard Carter, Susie Porter, Bruce Venables, Dein Perry
On the Sunday night TV show "Married...With Children" well over a decade ago, Sally Struthers played a high school girl who was to perform in the role of a tap dancer. Instead of effecting the choreography expected of her, she turned the presentation into a sultry gambol that raised the testosterone level of the parents in the audience noticeably. Since the Struthers character embodied the definition of hip, the implication was that tap was cornball, a square form of entertainment that died a natural death eons ago. This is why a potential audience might look with a wary eye on ads for a new movie by the Twentieth Century Fox arthouse division, Fox Searchlight, called "Bootmen."
Not to worry. Dein Perry, whose staged work "Tap Dogs" has made the rounds of several continents, has as much in common with a Fred Astaire-style monkey-suit routine as the minuet has with a rave. The prior film that best conveys the ambience of this new work is Baz Luhrmann's 1992 movie, "Strictly Ballroom," also removed from the conventional ballroom dancing you might think that it's about. "Strictly Ballroom" featured the dynamic Paul Mercurio who outrages his mother by making up his own provocative steps and then by taking on a partner who is anything by comely but who glows and blooms under his mentoring.
Like Luhrmann's film, Dein Perry's debut feature as a film director is not always credible, particularly in its presumption that thousands of people form a working-class city would turn out for a performance of tap and its premise that several relatively untutored hoofers could learn some intriguing, original steps in a matter of weeks. Despite that minor blemish, "Bootmen"--which is also the name of the rough- hewn company that turns a makeshift auditorium into the likes of an exciting rock concert--is as poignant as it is frequently exhilarating. Not the least of the reasons for its success as an original piece is the central performance of the charismatic Adam Garcia, whom we have recently seen as Kevin O'Donnell in "Coyote Ugly" and three years ago as Jones in "Wilde." Garcia, by the way, must be about the most attractive 27-year-old male in Australia.
Garcia, born in in the New South Wales town of Wahroonga, takes on the role of a cocky young man, Sean Okden, who often irritates his father as much as he irks his employers. Working in a one-factory steel town about a couple of hours' ride from Sydney, he makes clear that welding steal is not about to become his life--nor ironically would it long embrace the lives of the rest of the workers in that rapidly declining industry.
Determined to make a living in the exceptionally insecure field of tap dancing, he takes a leave from his job to pick up a 3-months' contract with an upper-crust tap troupe in Sydney--but not before meeting and romancing the lovely local beautician Linda (Sophie Lee) who is also the object of affection of Sean's loutish brother Mitchell (Sam Worthington). While Mitchell's sideline of stealing cars gets him into deep trouble with a local gang engaged in the same business, Sean's arrogance makes him persona non grata with the conventional people who hire him. Deciding ultimately to make a calling of tap without leaving his own working-class environs, he choreographs some startling new, brash dances featuring fellow steel workers who perform in work clothes and heavily steeled shoes and who, together with a rock band willing to work for free prepare to stage a concert for the people of their own social class.
If you'd taken in Nicholas Hytner's recent movie "Center Stage," centering on Jody Sawyer's role as a dancer equally at home with salsa, jazz, ballet and aerobics, you'll get an idea of the tone of Perry's story. To the credit of "Bootmen," this is not a picture that is all music and dance at the expense of gripping narrative as was the energetic and also recommended high-school-targeted "Bring It On," but scores high for depth of characterization and for poignancy in bringing home the heartbreaking milieu of a working-class town too dependent on a single industry for its livelihood.
Rated R. Running time: 95 minutes. (C) 2000 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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