The Boys are Back (***½)

Directed by: Scott Hicks

Starring: Clive Owen, Emma Booth, Laura Fraser, George MacKay, Nicholas McAnulty, Julia Blake

Seen: July 10th 2010

***½ Out of ****

Joe Warr (Owen) lives in Australia with his second wife Katy (Fraser) and their young, mind-of-his-own son Artie (McAnulty). Joe is away from home for long stretches with work – having to, for example, cover the Australian Open during the movie. When Katy suddenly dies Joe is forced to take a new look at his life and find solace in the fact that he still has his son. Artie is a bit difficult however, and it takes Joe a while to learn to understand him via an inner monologue where he sees his wife and converses with her. In his longing for the gap to be filled he calls Harry (MacKay), his other son from his first marriage, who now lives in London, to come visit for a while. Harry initially finds the situation a strange one, but once he loosens up he forms a strong bond with his half-brother, and Artie sees in Harry not only a strange older brother, but a closest friend.

The small family enjoy each others’ company, with Joe adopting a very liberal approach to parenting by which he expects Harry and Artie to do as he says, but he doesn’t expect them to do at all much. Along the way he is constantly being told what to do and how wrong his approach is by Katy’s mother Barbara (Blake) and strangers alike, and in a way supported by Laura (Booth), who is also a single parent. Laura understands some of what Joe tries with his children, but, like Joe, does not go out of her way to try and explain and justify every action. With the Australian Open coming up, Joe finds a way to report on it while not being there, but when his boss is headed for the Open himself and Joe can’t find anyone to look after Harry and Artie (Barbara is too busy on her and her husband’s farm, Laura has a crisis of conscience about their relationship), Harry tells Joe to go, he’ll watch out for Artie. Of course you know where this is headed, but luckily it doesn’t go in the feared direction, but rather a more realistic and emotional direction as Harry experiences things in a strongly negative light and Joe needs to find a way to fix things.

The Boys are Back is an absolutely beautiful family movie with heaps of heart which has been criticised as advocating a reckless approach at parenting. I believe that, while Joe is at times not as responsible a parent as he should be, he is raising two strong young men in his home, not coddling them into becoming cardboard cut-out psychological softies but allowing them to grow into manhood. The humour in the movie is heartfelt and originates from unexpected origins, when Joe tells Artie he has his shoes on the wrong feet, his rebuttal is that these are the only feet he’s got. Clive Owen also portrays a strong man suffering through the loss of a loved one with much aplomb, as he gets the delicate balance between sorrow on his own and courage in front of his children pitch perfectly correct. By the end of the movie you’ll feel like the wind of freedom and release rushing through these guys’ hair is rushing through yours as well, The Boys are Back is a great movie.