New Boy

I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Short Fest. This comedy-drama is a story about a nine year old African boy, Joseph (Olutunji Ebun-Cole who has fled a war-torn nation and is experiencing his first day of school in Ireland and the natural difficulties of an outsider fitting in. Norma Sheahan is the teacher keeping order, Sinead Maguire is Hazel O'Hara the sympathetic classmate, and Fionn O'Shea and Simon O'Driscall are Seth Quinn and Christian Kelly the classroom bullies. This award winning short is the third short from writer/director Stephanie Green. Green adapted the story from the short story New Boy by novelist Roddy Doyle, best known for The Commitments, from his new book The Deportees and Other Stories. The story is told with flashbacks of Joseph's schooling in Africa. This is a good film with nice performances from the child actors and exasperated teacher and the central story moves along at a fast pace that the flashback scenes don't slow down resulting in an even balanced film. I would give this a 7.0 out of 10 and recommend it.

Director Steph Green's "Newboy" is a classic new-kid-on-the-block, fish-out-of-water narrative that comes alive through Cinematographer PJ Dillon's clean camera work and scene set-ups that literally catches both the vibrant warmth of Joseph's African homeland (and yet set against a chilling coldness of another sort) and the cold, grayness of Ireland (and yet a peculiar kind of warmth and care) which underscores the metaphor of an initial cultural clash. The expressiveness and humor of the brilliant and mainly child actors is stellar and it's they who will charm you and warm your heart.

Given the timelessness of the narrative (the success of the remake of "The Karate Kid" starring Jaden Smith comes to mind) this sort of 11 min. short should be the appetizer to films at the cinema for films geared to children, adults and those on their way to adulthood. This would be especially true in North American cinemas where it's difficult for films outside of certain cities to see great little films from overseas.

moviechick1010

Joseph a new arrival at a school in Ireland has his first day in class and finds himself a target for bullying

Another Oscar nominated short but not one I've been blown away with . I should quickly add however that some of the shorts I've been treated to have been genuinely outstanding and have really raised the bar of my expectations . There's not much wrong with NEW BOY in itself just that it pales slightly in comparison with some others

Based upon a short story by Roddy Doyle it has a somewhat fractured storyline where it cuts from Rwanda in the very near recent past to contemporary Ireland . Where as some shorts draw you in and then twist your expectations 360 degrees this is one starts off hard edged and gritty then perhaps predictably feels the need to give the audience a nice warm feeling by the end which you can probably see coming as I did and it's a little bit too obvious . Despite it does have a trump card in the shape of Olutunji Ebun Cole and it's not often you see a child actor carry a film who hardly has a word of dialogue to speak . In fact considering nearly all the cast are child actors and if you feel like strangling them that's because you're supposed to want to strangle them so unlike some child actors they universally play their parts well

When "Joseph" (Ulutunji Ebun-Cole) arrives at his new Irish junior school, he is immediately reminded of his school at home (somewhere in Africa) and of the trauma that he experienced there that rather dwarves the petty bullying that he is soon experiencing from two of his classmates. Luckily, the young "Hazel" (Sinead Maguire) takes a bit of a shine to their new boy and her behaviour might just offer a conduit for all to move past their initial hostilities and share a laugh. Aside from anything else, it makes you remember that being a primary school teacher is no walk in the park, but mostly it's a reminder that it's not always the easiest path to make friends - picking fights is often simpler. The kids do quite well here, with a minimum of dialogue, and I did quite enjoy the simplicity of the story.

The clash between two worlds. Memories of the past and present as tough reality. And the change, profound, painful and admirable exposed by inspired director of the life of a boy. Short, just a gem.