Flirting

I know this is a sequel but I never saw the first film but I am familiar with the actors. Noah Taylor from "Shine" and Thandie Newton from "MI2" and of course Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts. Newton is wonderful in a strong but understated performance. Her character is very complex as we watch her try and fit in but the school system always does its job of reminding her of where she comes from and who she is. Taylor is a good actor and does a good job of blending both his awkwardness and real heart at the same time. The romance between the two comes off unexpectedly well and you can't help but root for the two in a strict environment. On a trivial note, both Newton and Kidman would end up in films with Tom Cruise. I wonder how far off Naomi Watts is from being in one? Film is typical coming of age story but the unique angle is Newton's character as the daughter of an important African statesman and the result that we find out at the end of the film. Film is very nicely handled on every level.

Those who've watched The Wonder Years will recognise the style of storytelling here. The main character is also the narrator, there's an ongoing reference to world events, there are adolescents growing into maturity, and there are some wonderfully rounded and recognisable individuals.

Both main characters experience discrimination, including in Thandie Newton's case, racial discrimination both overt and implied - e.g. an Australian lad says to her "Your English is very good", to which she responds "So is yours"!

On the surface it's just a coming-of-age school story, but the film continually rises above this to greater heights of poignancy and subtlety.

Nicole Kidman is brilliant in the difficult role of the head of school who apparently has it all until, in one of the most moving moments of the film, her true self is revealed.

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Don't let the title fool you. Although this is one of the sweetest movies you'll ever see, it is no beach blanket bingo for bimbos. This is an Aussie story of teen love set in 1965, heroic as only teens can play it. It is fun to watch, authentic and original at the same time, a coming of age flick in the English boarding school tradition of "Dead Poet's Society" (1989) and "A Separate Peace" (the novel, not the so-so movie). Noah Taylor stars as Danny Embling, an outsider who reads Sartre and Camus while satirizing the school's empty traditions. Across the lake is the girl's school where Thandiwe Adjewa (Thandie Newton), daughter of the Ugandan ambassador, is learning to meld with the Aussie pale faces, including a gifted pre-Hollywood Nicole Kidman.

Thandie Newton and Noah Taylor, as beautifully directed by John Duigan, are the reasons this film is so good. She has a fearless integrity about her that overcomes the prejudices of her school mates. He is wise and brave at a hundred and twenty pounds. She too is ultra sophisticated. She even met Sartre. This is a story about the love between two outsiders who, with their strength of character win over not only their classmates, but the audience as well. Imagine teenagers as witty and poised as say Eartha Kitt and Gore Vidal, and you get a hint of how it's played.

Nicole Kidman as the snobby Nicola Radcliffe (the name says it all) manages a subtle supporting role with a diamond-in-the-rough kind of charm and just the right touch of on-screen growth. The scene where she shares her stash of vodka (or perhaps a clear fruit liquor) with Thandiwe Adjewa is beautifully turned by Director John Duigan. Also excellent is the hotel scene where the adults are revealed as intrusive in the extreme. I like Danny Embling's line as he deadpans to a re-robing Thandiwe, "They're all funny, aren't they?" Yes, those adults are a little peculiar.

This is not unflawed, however. The ending, despite the rousing music, seemed a bland washout, leaving us with a sense of disappointment. And I thought the first love scene with the two "touching" was a little unreal. I mean he might have kissed her! There's a limit to how great a coming of age, boarding school movie can be, especially when the adults have only scarecrow parts. Nonetheless "Flirting" is a confectioner's delight, and one of the best coming of age movies I've ever seen.

Heavens be thanked for how Australians and New Zealanders have revived the acting element of film.

Everything in the country seems set up to produce performing artists, even talented writers that understand acting, where Brazil produces soccer players and the US lawyers.

Here you have three of our actresses in essentially their first roles. Thandie Newton already at the peak of her screen charm, and Nicole Kidman and buddy Naomi Watts. Set in Australia, written and directed by an Australian, using what I have come to think of as the simple end of an Australian character spectrum.

This is a simple "coming of age" story. So simple, you begin with some trepidation. How many of these does one have to slog through to find something new? Well, there's nothing new here, but it turns adult rather quickly toward the end and allows us to leave it without feeling cheap.

And isn't that part of the skill of these things, to allow us to visit the insecurities of youth (which we probably still have) and to do so safely and finally to recall the experience fondly (so we will tell our friends to see this movie).

Nicole and Naomi aren't any reason to see this. They're simply standard props and rather far from the skills they'd develop. No, it is just the simple arc of the thing. No particular folding (as in "Sirens"), no cheap titillation, just honest, innocent yearning in a hostile world. Hostile large and small.

Concerning the titillation, a key plot device revolves around our hero interceding to prevent a compromising photo from being taken. So, a negative fold, if you will, a deliberate statement of flatness. This is accentuated by frequent references to booknames that would be familiar to youngsters as "adult" (Sartre, Camus, Marx) and Sartre's appearance at the boxing match where our hero gets pummeled.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I enjoyed this movie. I particularly liked the way they referred to Camus and Sartre in such offhand ways. I think this is the type of move that you must see again and again to get the full impact. I plan to see it a few more times to soak in all the nuances of the plot and character formation.