The Boys Are Back

Editorial

As he leans back in the driver's seat of his 4WD, foot on the accelerator, Joe Warr seems like a man in control, like a man without a care in the world. He looks at the people he's passing — concerned parents hurling abuse at him, begging him to stop — and with nothing more than a smile and a wave, simply chuckles, "Relax!" At which point the camera pans back, and you begin to understand the onlookers' concern.

To explain the reveal would be to ruin the surprise, but it's a beautiful opening scene, and a perfect metaphor for the confusion in Joe's mind as he comes to terms with the death of his wife and the responsibility of bringing up a young son who, thanks to a demanding professional life, he barely knows.

Scott Hicks's return to the big-screen is a wonderfully moving meditation on life, death and familial bonds that triumph in its understated approach. Though the issues it deals with are, ostensibly, similar to those that have made other Australian productions of late such hard work, Hicks's lightness of touch and desire to explore the full range of human emotions makes this a far more rewarding, multi-dimensional experience. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the opening 15 minutes, during which we meet Joe and his wife Katie, fall in love with them, and then watch, devastated, as Katie is diagnosed with cancer and succumbs to the disease.

Clive Owen can be a cold on-screen personality, and while that sometimes jars, here it works beautifully as he attempts to become more to his son than the travelling sports writer who returns bearing gifts before leaving again on assignment.

As Katie, Scottish actress Laura Fraser is superb, her Australian accent flawless. Emma Booth proves Clubland was no fluke by going head-to-head with Owen as a fellow single parent, while six-year old McAnulty is as natural a child actor as you've seen.

Rod Yates