copperbeech's blog

film ~ december boys

 abuse

December boys
Poorly promoted as "Harry Potter's break out film", December Boys  was a gorgeous film to watch, its story sad and compelling.  Anyone with an affection for the beauty that is Kangaroo Island will appreciate the stunning scenery in the film.  I have not read the book, and apparently the story in the film is a radical departure from its source literature.  The setting is the 1960s Oz Outback, an orphanage housing 4 boys ranging in age from 9-16, all of whom were born in the month of December (though they don't know their birth dates).  When a special donation is made to the orphanage, all 4 boys are taken on their first excursion to the sea, where the rumor awaits that one of them will be adopted by a family there.  Having been best friends all their lives, the boys spend the summer competing for the family's affection.  The obvious pressure of being scrutinized and inevitably separated so that one of them can gain a family is hard to watch.  The added experiences of the change in environment and meeting new people lightens the mood, though bring new hardships, as well.  The narrative is the memory of one of the younger boys, Misty.  I enjoyed the interjections of Misty's young lucid mind having shaped his interpretation of events without the adult clarity to fully process them.   Along that vein I loved how it wasn't always evident how Misty's imagination was interpreting events, as the film blurred odd surrealistic visuals. 

All said this film was an excellent next move for an emerging child-to-adult actor. Radcliffe did well in it.  He does restrained emotion very well, which allows viewers to be involved in the story but keep an emotional detachment from its progress.  In that respect, the film isn't over dramatized. It accomplishes allowing viewers to identify with each of the boys without being sentimental, which I think shows the craft of the writing and direction more than any other facet of the film.    It's clearly a very sad and traumatic time, in the adult mind watching it.  But for the young ones living it it's just...  life, a time that when processed later as adults, they realized how pivotal it was.

I must say that I was not impressed with the portrayal of the femme fatale character in the film, who was the love interest of the eldest boy, Maps.  The story gave no indication for why she behaved as she did.  I felt that part of the story needed to be told in order for me to have any sympathy for her.  There was an air of things not being quite right in her personal life, but without it being rooted more firmly and evidently into the main arc of Maps, she just came across two-dimensional.

No, it's not a blockbuster, and I see now why it was never promoted as such.  It is what it is--an indie film whose subtle artfulness would go the wayside for many mainstream audiences.  I was, however, struck by the fact that a lot of people who would otherwise find Radcliffe to be narrow in his skills will not see this film; thus, it will take him even longer to break out of that HP type to which the general public and industry holds him.