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decided at a few points during the film that as soon as I get outrageously rich, I'm going there to retire. Quaint beach houses, awesome rock formations to climb on, a nice sandy beach surrounding the cove spilling into the ocean...it's a dream location for anyone, young or old.
If you go to see this without being a fan of the novel, chances are it's because you're curious about what Daniel Radcliffe can do when he's not Harry Potter. Despite still being an orphan, Maps could hardly be more different than Harry, and Radcliffe plays it with a low-key believability that works. Maps spends the movie usually either brooding quietly or staring lustfully at Lucy, so it's not trying to be a showy role, and the supposed "love scene" that he and Lucy have is thankfully not provocative whatsoever. He also develops a father/son relationship with the motorcyclist (although don't worry, I'm not giving anything away) which involves a great scene between the two at the nearby carnival the motorcyclist works at. Both actors hit the perfect notes, and it's one of the best scenes in the movie.
Throughout the summer, plenty of sideplots appear and are eventually resolved, as the four boys experience love and loss and reaffirm their bonds of friendship. The ending seemed a little lame to me, almost like a cheat, because it succeeds at resolving pretty much nothing. The movie adequately hits most of the coming-of-age beats as it travels from the beginning to the end of the summer, although since the heart of the story here is the boys' friendship, I wish it had bothered to characterize all of them instead of just two. Still, it looks real pretty.
Movie Grade: B-
Synopsis:
Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, December Boys is a story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a catholic convent in outback Australia. For years the boys watch younger kids leave with their newly adopted parents and have come to the realization their time may never come.
The Reverend Mother gives the boys something to look forward to by sending them to visit the seaside for the first time. Their long awaited vacation doesn't turn out the way they planned until they meet Teresa & Fearless, a young autocratic couple that would make the perfect parents.
As men, they remember back to the 60's when, as boys, they spent their first tumultuous summer by the sea as they sabotaged each others efforts to be the chosen one only to discover the real meaning behind what it is to be a family, i.e. one of the "December Boys."
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