Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 15
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0
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Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 614
The life of a teen in an isolated small town is the subject of Australian writer/director John Duigan's film, set in 1962 in New South Wales. Duigan's coming-of-age story has many familiar elements -- Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) discovers his sexual attraction to a childhood playmate (Leone Carmen as Freya), he undergoes the taunts of bullies at his school, rages against the narrow-minded views of his parents and many of the townspeople, and comes under the influence of a sympathetic adult
Oct 17, 1987 Limited
Feb 8, 2000
All Critics (15) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (1) | DVD (1)
The characters are memorable ones, and beautifully played by the three young newcomers, with Noah Taylor especially effective as the lovesick Danny.
It is so pleasant and unpretentious that we can almost forget the total lack of surprise in this deftly acted Australian film.
Although most of this is rather familiar stuff...the treatment is sufficiently sincere and nuanced to give it a touch of poignancy.
This isn't an adolescent wish-fulfillment fantasy, so the impossible never happens, and it's a credit to the movie that it doesn't.
This funny, touching, truthful gem of a film is one of the ongoing pleasures of Australian cinema, and is as fresh and compelling on its 21st anniversary as it was on its acclaimed release
Though it covers familiar territory, this well-acted, skillfully photographed film is a gentle examination of the rites of passage.
A film to restore one's faith in films about the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Wonderful, perceptive, and original Australian film about the magic and anguish of adolescence.
Duigan's gift for characterization and feel for period give the film its haunting and evocative mood, and hint at something altogether darker than the average teen flick.
Bittersweet Australian coming-of-age tale
It's solid, involving and uncomfortably familiar -- another good, but not great, coming-of-age drama.
Nice effort from Duigan, and a smashing introduction by Noah Taylor, who would fly so high in Shine.
I love coming-of-age and both Noah Taylor and Loene Carmen's longing for people they can never truly have is something we can all identify with and feel their pain.
May 2, 2010Super Reviewer
A good movie.
January 13, 2008Super Reviewer
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