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A review: Boys Are Back
(12a) 1 hr 45 mins Stars: Clive Owen Director: Scott Hicks Opens at the Belper Ritz on April 7th
British actor Clive Owen has always been strong, solid, reliable and watchable and the same can be said of this film which traces the true life trials of Joe Warr, a British Aussie-based journalist (in reality, Simon Carr of The Independent) forced to raise his two sons following the untimely death of his young wife.
Turning Carr's political journo figure into a top sports reporter adds a bit of spice to the drama but the real meat is the father-son relationship, initially between Joe and his six year-old son Artie, a remarkably natural, engaging and utterly convincing performance by newcomer Nicholas McAnulty.
The arrival of Harry, his first wife's teenage son from England, enriches the ingredients as it further complicates Joe's fraught if well-meant parenting. When the boy arrives, his father describes the relaxed and loose, laissez-faire domestic set-up as "Home Alone, except there are three of us".
Director Scott Hicks has made an agreeable if much more conventional movie than his feted classic Shine.
He astutely takes us away from family issues so we can take in a few sunny cinematic Oz locations (photographed by Greig Fraser who shot Bright Star) and gratifyingly avoids ladling too much mush into the emotional mix while we can still be moved by Joe's loss and grief.
There is also amusement amidst the drama whilst still hanging on to a sense of realism and I loved the sharply dramatical tte--ttes between Joe and his mother-in-law, played with gusto by Julia Blake.
The soundtrack score is to be highly commended, too, largely for the inspired use of atmospheric soundscapes by Sigur Ros.
Ok, it's not as sharp or as winning as Kramer vs Kramer but there's enough funny, touching and sparky moments to make The Boys Are Back well worth a view. And if you're a parent, bring a hankie.
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Weather for Belper
Thursday 09 February 2012
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