Old Boys

Some movies take a thin smear of ideas and bulk them out with ninety minutes of dialog, overemoting, manipulation, and stuff getting shifted about on the screen. But "Old Boys" takes a rich selection (or maybe an over-generous selection) of ideas and throws them all together, in the hope that enough of the bits will stick together long enough to keep a story-line going. And keep the fun going.

A parody of English boarding school stories? Make it an over-the-top parody. Eccentric school customs? Make them bizarre customs. A weird traditional "sport"? Make it a demented sport. French teacher writes second-rate novels? They're third rate, and he hauls around cartons of unsold copies. Role reversal at the end? Make that all go crazy. Happy ending? No, this is adolescence, and it's not meant to be happy. And it's not meant to end! What adolescence does to you is supposed to stay with you for the rest of your life. But it probably won't. When you think about it, getting all grown up and adult is a pretty stupid thing to do. Maybe this adult stuff is something for girls. I hope not.

Yes, "Old Boys" does look like a classroom of kids were invited to throw their best ideas into the middle, and when a movie was made out of this "material", they were all able to point out some bits and say, "I suggested that." There's some very nice cutting, quick flicks between "the nerd I probably look like" and "the hero I would like to be" or "the person I prefer to see myself as, though still of course a nerd." Whatever the story's developments (if that's not too strong a word) everything always remains fresh, like a dewy early morning in a magical English countryside. If you're prepared to cut this movie some slack, and come along for the ride, you might discover that any boring parts are quite hard to find. Scatterbrain energy and unrepressed exuberance, what else is youth for?

It's a film I recommend for the boy in every male. And what about females? Dunno. You can never tell with girls. They're a different species, mysterious, baffling. They're girls.

Slightly preposterous plot but very nicely acted and produced. Gorgeous setting of Lancing College and scenes in Lewes help the visuals.The story could be told in half the time but that wouldn't make much of a film! The film is set in the 1980s and, unfortunately, propogates a stereotyped version of life at an English Public School which is far from the reality. (It wasn't that bad when I went to one in the 60s!). Worth viewing.

Amberson (Alex Lawther) is the bullied bumbling nerd at an all-boys boarding school. Winchester (Jonah Hauer-King) is the lead jock in a ruby-like game played in the middle of a stream. Babinot is the new French teacher and he brings along his daughter Agnes (Pauline Etienne). Amberson immediately falls for her, but she is taken with Winchester after she mistakenly believes him to a poet.

This is a Cyrano de Bergerac adjacent story. Etienne is the Pixie Dreamgirl although she's not that Manic. She's perfect for the role. Her older age doesn't matter that much. Her character is older and out of school anyways. I would like Amberson to be less wormy. He has to be a nerd, but he could be less pathetic. He's overplaying it and gets a little cartoony. Winchester is less idiotic than expected. He is certainly charming. All in all, I like these characters and that's fine for this coming-of-age movie.

Another of those films that start in the middle and finish at the beginning and no one is any the wiser. No very funny and not very entertaining either. My advice find something else.

Old Boys (2018) -

I actually only tuned in to this film because I thought that Amberson (Alex Lawther) was in love with Winchester (Jonah Hauer-King), not Agnes (Pauline Etienne). The description on TV was ambiguous and misleading. As far as I'm concerned, a love triangle should meet at all points of the shape or it's just a V!

It is however a sweet and quirky film, if a bit childish for a 12A. I think that it probably hits home more with an older generation because of the way that it's filmed. It's quite dark and gritty due to its 80's Boarding School setting, but the story is about teenagers which might only appeal to those of about 12-13 years, unless you are reliving your own Public School days.

As such it feels a bit confused. I'm an overgrown teenager, so I quite liked it, but I can't see it appealing to everyone else so easily.

I do think that it would have worked better if Winchester had been pretending to like Agnes to get closer to Amberson or the other way around, because it needed that extra something to it, in order to give it some more depth.

That's where the end seemed a bit daft, because of Amberson's final choice. It would have made more sense my way and the homosexual school romance is quite well documented. I suppose that's the reason that they didn't do it that way?

It's said to have a Cyrano de Bergerac type structure and it kind of does, but I think it could have been so much more and perhaps as a 15 it would have been freer to explore things and to deliver a more complicated story.

While Alex always plays the goofy part very well, it fits even more perfectly here. Jonah is also very good as the airhead jock and beautiful too.

I like the suggestions that the school is like a prison and the use of flip book animation is also very cleverly done to move scenes from one to another.

But the more films I see about Public Schools, the more I think that they are ridiculous. They are never shown in a good light and usually depicted as chaotic and full of bullies throughout the faculty and the students. I certainly wouldn't send my child to one so it could be treated like dirt and go through daft rituals in silly outfits. It's not character building, it's just cruel. We should be taught how to raise people up and support them, not put them down. Abolish the Hierarchy!!

The film was enjoyable and easy to watch though. It certainly doesn't require a lot of attention to follow it, but that was also part of its charm. It seems well edited and directed and the darkness of the setting and costume enforces the prison like dimension.

Worth checking out at least.

564.03/1000.