The small-budget film "December Boys" would not have been so eye-catching if it wasn't for the starring of "Harry Potter" classmate Daniel Radcliffe. In fact, aside from the Daniel factor, the film still has something to watch.
The film has a small structure and a relaxed rhythm. It tells a story about the growth of a boy. It reproduces a simple and lovely youthful past. The theme directly points to the preciousness of friendship, but it does not pretend to be profound and obscure, nor is it impetuous. Simple feeling. Of course, the gorgeous and dazzling shooting skills do not affect this simple emotion. On the contrary, the beautiful scenery of Australia and the four children running in the sun under the lens are more likely to remind people of the summer time of childhood.
The protagonists of the film are four orphans who were born in December. They live in a monastery in Australia and are less likely to be adopted as they age. They all have funny nicknames: Maps (played by Daniel Radcliffe), Spark, Spit and Misty. Among them, Maipus is the oldest and has entered adolescence. Because he has not been adopted for a long time, lacks family warmth, and is an old orphan, his personality is a bit melancholy, he is always preoccupied, and his behavior is a bit rebellious. The narration of Misty, the youngest of the four, begins and takes the audience back to 1960s Australia.
These December boys with very different personalities and little attention have become good friends due to the same situation. The days would go on like this until the day when he turned 18 and had to leave the monastery. But the "unlucky" also got lucky. In the summer of their birthdays (December is summer in Australia), they got a gift - retired naval officer Bandy McAnsh and his wife invited them to go on a seaside holiday. .
The boys play like "letting the wind" on the seaside headland with blue sea and blue sky. Every day is curious and happy, until Misty accidentally learns that the Mike Ansh's neighbor, the young Tracy and his wife, want to adopt them. One of them, apart from Maps, who was no longer eager to be adopted because of too much disappointment, the other three orphans who were younger all yearned to be selected and began to compete unconsciously: Misty courted the elders and used his specialties to draw After seeing the portraits of Tracy and his wife, Spark and Spit are paying more and more attention to appearance and wiping motorcycles for Tracy's husband... Seeing this, I can't help but feel unbearable - these inner loneliness and lack of safety How lovely children want to have a home and parents!
While Misty and the three were busy "bidding", Maps' first love began quietly. Lucy, a young girl who came here from Darwin to accompany her uncle, was beautiful and bold, innocent and wild, and was very fond of Maps. On the seaside, on the dunes, beside boulders, and in caves, their love is unfolding.
Then, Lucy's leaving without saying goodbye made Maps very painful, and the "bidding" children also because of the intense "PK" atmosphere, the pain and depression caused by the rejection of various families for a long time were superimposed and accumulated, and finally all kinds of Emotions broke out completely. Shortly after the three children quarreled and walked away in frustration, Misty fell into the sea, and Spit's cry for help awakened Maps, who was indulging in a sad love affair. Save Misty...Finally, their friendship has stood the test and they understand how precious friendship and each other are.
When the Tracy couple announced the adoption of Misty, the other children sincerely congratulated him, but Misty, who finally got what she wanted, found herself unable to live without the other December boys because he had already There is a home, and that is a home with Maps, Spark and Spit. At the end of the film, an aged Misty, Spark and Spit returned to the seaside headland again, and together they threw the ashes of Mapes, who had been a priest in Africa as an adult, into the sea...
The identity of the children in the film are orphans. For Daniel Radcliffe, it seems that only this is similar to Harry Potter. They all have the trouble of growing up in their youth, and they all continue to grow in the tempering of growth. Big, the role of Maps should be an important attempt of Daniel's transformation period, creating a new screen image of a non-Harry little magician. Yu Meiyu gave a "rebellious" who grew up in an orphanage all year round. The image of "Older Orphan" is ordinary, gloomy, taciturn, and eager to love and be loved. In this regard, the evaluation of "Entertainment Weekly" in the United States is very reliable - "Daniel Radcliffe's performance is very convincing and not at all obtrusive, but he still seems to be eager to integrate into this film. A transfer student to an unfamiliar environment, and the kid he plays with is still a little bit young." Indeed, Daniel's height makes him stand out among these young kids, and at the same time, the performances of several other young actors are also very good. Emotional scenes are handled very naturally, especially Misty.
The film is adapted from the novel of the same name published by Michael Noonan in 1963. The story did not make the creators as excited as the media said. It can be said that the content is not worth exploring, and it does not give more thinking and aftertaste. , just calmly and calmly told some memories about the boy's youthful past, as if to show the importance of adolescence to a person, and all kinds of human feelings are irreplaceable. Of course, although the plot of the film is simple, it is also touching, as director Rod Hardy said: "Everyone will experience such a summer that they will never forget, you will find yourself suddenly grown up, and in that summer The days you have lived may be unforgettable in your life, because many profound things happened..."
( http://nicolew.blog.hexun.com/15603403_d.html )
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