Call it The Full Monty 2.  You can even call it Rocky VI - I don’t really care.  Billy Elliot is the “Feel Good Movie of the Year” in a time when four of the last five Best Picture winners featured main characters that died in the final reel.  It’s just not cool to be the FGMOTY anymore, and the films that try to shoot for FGMOTY status usually fail miserably by cramming schmaltz down your throat (i.e., Pay It Forward).

While Elliot’s story isn’t particularly groundbreaking, the film manages to avoid the gimmicky devices and relentless button-pushing that usually derail FGMOTY wannabes.  Instead, it relies on terrific acting performances, highlighted by 13-year-old newcomer Jamie Bell, who plays the titular Elliot.  I haven’t found myself rooting for a character this fiercely in a long, long time, and if this film doesn’t put a smile on your face and a lump in your throat, there’s something very wrong with you.

Elliot is set in a small town in northeast England during a coal miners' strike in 1984.  The film opens with 11-year-old Billy jumping up and down on his bed to his brother’s record collection (the soundtrack is loaded with T-Rex tunes).  Billy shares his bedroom with older brother Tony (Jamie Draven), who, like their father (Gary Lewis, East is East), spends his time on the picket line throwing produce at the scabs who have taken their jobs.  Billy breaks up his day between keeping an eye on his senile grandmother (Jean Heywood) and plunking away at the piano that his dead mother used to play.

Although money is tight, Billy’s father gives him a stipend for weekly boxing lessons.  He’s awful at it, and one night after practice, Billy sticks around and watches a group of young girls learn ballet. Infatuated by the dancing, Billy joins in and finds that he’s quite good at it, despite worrying that he’ll become “a right sissy.”  The teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters, Titanic Town), is a crass, chain-smoking teacher who could be a cousin to Brenda Blethyn’s character in Little Voice, but she recognizes Billy’s talent and suddenly finds herself with a new interest in her work.

The rest of the film follows a fairly predictable trajectory, with Billy struggling to perfect his craft for an audition at the Royal Ballet School in London.  Mrs. Wilkinson becomes somewhat of a mother figure to him, and his father and brother hit the roof when they find out that their own blood is dabbling in poofy dancing (these are the kind of blue-collar Englishmen that think Mikhail Barishnikov is a striker for Dynamo Kiev).

The film does have a couple of minor hitches, like the inclusion of a subplot featuring Billy’s cross-dressing best friend (Stuart Wells, in his film debut) and the failure to beef up the sweet but neglected subplot involving Billy and Mrs. Wilkinson's daughter, Debbie (Nicola Blackwell –a dead ringer for Patricia Clarkson).  But the picture is held together by a truly inspirational performance from young Bell, who does an extremely good job of towing the delicate line between childhood and adulthood.

Elliot is the feature film directorial debut of Stephen Daldry, whose short film Eight was nominated for a British Academy Award in 1998.  The script was written by Lee Hall, who is also making his feature film debut with this film festival favorite that has fared well in the early rounds of year-end accolades.  Comparisons to the out-of-left-field hit The Full Monty are going to be inevitable, as each film features working-class stiffs who become unlikely local heroes.  And I wouldn’t be surprised to see Elliot land a Monty-esque load of Oscar nominations, either.

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