Flirting

The irreverent Australian teen who survived the first advance of puberty in 'The Year My Voice Broke' finds himself enrolled in a strict, boys-only boarding school and attracted to a demure young girl (played by newcomer Thandie Newton, in a remarkably natural performance) from the equally cloistered girl's academy across the river. He fact that she's a refugee from Uganda isn't an issue (except to indicate how each is an outsider in their respective schools), and their refreshingly colorblind romance lifts the film above the average horny teenage mating ritual. Writer director John Duigan identifies every bane of post adolescent life (braces, pimples, raging hormones), but beyond that captures all the tyranny of petty academic oppression and the terrible yearning of sexual awakening, depicted for once without any bogus slow motion ecstasy or crass innuendo. With so many grace notes it seems mean to point out the usual irritating prop of unnecessary voice-over narration, and the unrealistic optimism of the resolution: teen romance rarely ends happily-ever-after, even in rose-colored memories.

Heavens be thanked for how Australians and New Zealanders have revived the acting element of film.

Everything in the country seems set up to produce performing artists, even talented writers that understand acting, where Brazil produces soccer players and the US lawyers.

Here you have three of our actresses in essentially their first roles. Thandie Newton already at the peak of her screen charm, and Nicole Kidman and buddy Naomi Watts. Set in Australia, written and directed by an Australian, using what I have come to think of as the simple end of an Australian character spectrum.

This is a simple "coming of age" story. So simple, you begin with some trepidation. How many of these does one have to slog through to find something new? Well, there's nothing new here, but it turns adult rather quickly toward the end and allows us to leave it without feeling cheap.

And isn't that part of the skill of these things, to allow us to visit the insecurities of youth (which we probably still have) and to do so safely and finally to recall the experience fondly (so we will tell our friends to see this movie).

Nicole and Naomi aren't any reason to see this. They're simply standard props and rather far from the skills they'd develop. No, it is just the simple arc of the thing. No particular folding (as in "Sirens"), no cheap titillation, just honest, innocent yearning in a hostile world. Hostile large and small.

Concerning the titillation, a key plot device revolves around our hero interceding to prevent a compromising photo from being taken. So, a negative fold, if you will, a deliberate statement of flatness. This is accentuated by frequent references to booknames that would be familiar to youngsters as "adult" (Sartre, Camus, Marx) and Sartre's appearance at the boxing match where our hero gets pummeled.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

The only reason I even watched this movie (at first) is because there was nothing else on tv, and I saw from the commercial that Nicole Kidman was in it. I'd seen Noah Taylor in the Tomb Raider movie and loved his dorky, scatterbrained performance. So I sat down and watched it. I was amazed. This movie is GREAT for a romantic person. The difficulty of the situation in Africa, combined with sad romance, repression, and brutality was enough to make me feel the emptiness that comes with the longing for true love that every girl and boy feels at one point or another. I rented the movie on video, and was surprised to find that very little was cut out; just a few slightly racier moments, and a foul word or two, plus one scene at the end was double-shot to have Thandie Newton in a bra and panties rather than naked. Rent it and watch if you're a longing romantic, or if you want to be one. Ah, love is such exquisite pain.

This film takes place in rural Australia in 1965 at an all-male boarding school with a young man named "Danny Embling" (Noah Taylor) recounting what his life was like during this time. As it so happens, while watching a rugby game with his good friend "Gilby Fryer" (Bartholomew Rose) Danny just happens to meet an attractive African girl named "Thandiwe Adjewa" (Thandie Newton) who attends the all-female boarding school across the lake. Although their conversation doesn't last for more than a minute or two both of them feel a certain chemistry toward each other which results in further meetings--some sanctioned and others in clear violation of school policies. But as their affections for one another increase so too does the risk with each secret rendezvous. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a good "coming of age" film which successfully dealt with the emotional attachments of two people for one another against a backdrop of racial prejudice. That being said, although I liked the performances of both Noah Taylor and Thandie Newton, I must admit that I thought the ending could have used a bit of improvement. Even so, I enjoyed this film for the most part and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Those who've watched The Wonder Years will recognise the style of storytelling here. The main character is also the narrator, there's an ongoing reference to world events, there are adolescents growing into maturity, and there are some wonderfully rounded and recognisable individuals.

Both main characters experience discrimination, including in Thandie Newton's case, racial discrimination both overt and implied - e.g. an Australian lad says to her "Your English is very good", to which she responds "So is yours"!

On the surface it's just a coming-of-age school story, but the film continually rises above this to greater heights of poignancy and subtlety.

Nicole Kidman is brilliant in the difficult role of the head of school who apparently has it all until, in one of the most moving moments of the film, her true self is revealed.