Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}

December Boys (Australia, 2007)

Seen: Wednesday, 4th March 2009 (DVD)
Runtime: 105′
Director: Rod Hardy
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, James Fraser, Jack Thompson, Teresa Palmer, Sullivan Stapleton, Victoria Hill
Production House: Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), Becker Group, Best FX (Boom Sound), MB 2 Film & Media GmbH, South Australian Film Corporation, The, Village Roadshow Pictures
Plot: (from imdb)

One summer, four orphans boys who have grown to be the closest of friends find themselves competing for the attention of the same family.

Trailer

Impressions In Short
A fairly run of the mill coming of age sort of film, but sweet :)

More About the Film
So yeah, I risked watching a Daniel Radcliffe movie after my fangirl moment and it didn’t go too badly ;) The only out of ordinary behaviour was looking closely at his smoking scenes to check if he was inhaling or not lol (as far as I could see - he wasn’t ;)).
Acting-wise he was a bit uneven. I mean he had some good moments, but overall he looked a bit stiff. I think Maps is a pretty difficult character to play for him actually because it’s a very quiet and outwardly very calm role. It’s not until much later in the film that Maps breaks down and gets angsty - which is where IMO Radcliffe does much better. He’s also great with the awkward stuff - the sex scene was a masterpiece lol It was actually very tame (it’s a PG-13 movie) - I was expecting it to be a little bit more “naughty” because of how he ranked it as more difficult to do than his Equus nude scene ;) It was great though - so adorably clumsy and it really didn’t need to be more explicit. I think it’s hilarious he did some nudity for this film as well (no nudity in the sex scene, but there’s a mooning scene). As far as I could make out, he did a pretty good job on the Australian accent, but I really don’t have a good ear for Australian accents, so… I mean I do think he was slipping, but only slightly and the British and Australian accents are close enough for it not to matter.
As for the film as a whole - it’s kind of slow, with a lot of landscapes. And it’s basically a coming of age story of four boys. It’s not a film I totally loved or anything, but it did engage me and though it took a while - by the end of the film I did feel for the characters.

Recommended?
Possibly :) Though not if you don’t like slower paced films.