The New Boy

It's 1940's in the Australian outback. An Aboriginal boy is captured by the police and sent to an orphanage run by Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett). Everybody is hiding the fact that the priest who is supposed to be running the place, is in fact dead.

The movie is definitely trying to do something interesting. I applaud the attempt. I don't know if it's actually a good movie. It starts with a bang and then it becomes a murky flight of spirituality and identity. I like the kid and one can't do much better than Cate Blanchett. It's worth a try to see this once if you can stay with it all the way to the end. I won't be seeing it again.

Overall, a beautifully photographed film amongst the beautiful landscapes and county of Australia. OK acting by the main cast and a beautiful soundtrack to accompany it. The sound design is terrific as well as the production and costume design and that's where the beauty stops. The films narrative is convoluted and not clear and is left to major interpretation which in storytelling means it's a weak premise with no real strong intention. It dances around the ideas of faith and indigenous culture, but it's never fully fleshed out, disappointed coming from a first nations director. There was definitely potential there in a conceived spiritual essence of an idea which was left underdeveloped and a missed opportunity to mix faith and spirituality. The imdb synopsis stated that it's about a renegade nun (Cate Blanchette) but that doesn't really describe the character. The film is easy to watch, pacing is better than most Aussie films, but it just needed so much more, Aussie films have this real problem in being able to do the simplest of things - Tell a good yarn on screen. Why is that? We get this idea that we must continue to tell first nation stories BUT we cannot find a new angle or a GREAT story to tell, this story is mediocre at best and Cate Blanchette can't save this. Doesn't matter how many AACTA or award nominations this film gets - your larger GENERAL audience can see through the pretentious arty-fartyness of underdeveloped narrative storytelling and by attaching known actors - it tries to sell you that this a film worthy of accolades. Films are political now, not made or judged by their merit but by the politics of the government agencies and the people who have power to get them made.

The film s well-made and it shows from the decent budget it was made with - but that deserves no accolade - tell a story and move me, make me feel emotion - I felt nothing watching this - disappointing because the hype didn't watch the viewing experience.

I declare misled. I saw the trailer, I learned that Blanchett is playing in the lead-role (although lately I have been disappointed by her choices...) and finally I read the reviews of some ''objective'' imdb - critics of the film. And they tricked me. Reviews deify an idiocy that lasts almost two hours. They are singing the praises of a sleazeball shot in the desert, with a dark-haired kid with odd-colored hair playing the beastly guy from the Green Mile.... Blanchett is a nun who cannot digest that the strange little boy works miracles. The curious little guy also does incomprehensible nonsense, though. And time goes by, and nothing happens. But the reviews are exciting because...who knows? Boredom! Be objective, guys! The scores of 10/10 for this &''film'' is madness.

Full of wonder and careful consideration. Gently handled with lots of space. Nothing gets rammed home here. Warwick is one of Australia's clearest cinematic voices today, and his love for story and the craft shows in every single frame. The composition is always interesting, and the light beautifully natural. South Australia puts it's outback colours on full display. In one tiny location, the world feels vast and magical. The cast performances are all superb. Warwick is definitely of the school "show, don't tell" of which he is quickly becoming a master. One day I would love to be crew on one of his productions, and watch the man at work.

Set against a backdrop of a strongly colonial and white Australia, we are rather violently introduced to a young, blonde, Aboriginal lad (Aswan Reid) who is conked out by a boomerang and awakens to find himself in the care of "Sister Eileen" (Cate Blanchett) and "Sister Mum" (Deborah Mailman) at a remote orphanage. She is pretty devout and he is very much in tune with nature - both people of faith, but not the same kind. The arrival of a large wooden crucifix to top their altar seems to focus both of them on what now becomes a rather dry and simplistic tale of spirituality. Reid does come across well. There is a spontaneity and naturalness to his performance, but Blanchett over-eggs just about all of the rest of it. She does this type of role well - shorn hair, manic eyes, slightly eccentric characterisation - but here there's just not enough story for her (or us) to get the teeth into. I got the sense that there was something almost "Oliver Twist" about the lad. Blonde? Sent away? Did he have a secret identity? That's not the story, though - and when he suffers his own rather personal misfortune at the end, I felt a rather overwhelming dislike of "Eileen" and her superstition-ridden church. Too be fair, this isn't a film that doesn't provoke a response - but with sparse dialogue and little character development, it's not really much more than a beautifully photographed vehicle for Blanchett to indulge herself and for Reid to be a boy facing a confusing future.