| | | After That Summer Nothing Would Ever Be the Same.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1, English, French, Spanish, Subtitled
They share the same birth month, so the orphanage calls them December Boys. But these teens - Maps, Spit, Spark and Misty - have much more in common. With no hopes of ever joining a family, they form their own familial bonds. Then the unexpected news comes that a young couple may adopt one of them, and the long-time pals suddenly share something else: a rivalry to be the chosen one.December Boys, a poignant memoir of friendship and family, marks Daniel Radcliffe's first major film role outside the Harry Potter series. He plays Maps, a big brother to the group as it stumbles and wavers the way toward manhood. Join the boys for their remarkable journey of the heart called growing up.
"...[a] charming tale of a quartet of Australian orphans...should appeal to sentimental adults old enough to wax nostalgic over their own adolescences." Ken Fox, TV Guide
"Tasteful and gorgeously photographed coming-of-age story." Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Editor's Note
Based on the novel by Michael Noonan, DECEMBER BOYS is a touching coming-of-age drama set in Australia in the 1960s. Maps (Daniel Radcliffe), Misty (Lee Cormie), Sparks (Christian Byers), and Spit (James Fraser) are four best friends who live in a Catholic orphanage, hoping to be adopted but learning that dreams don't come true--and adults often let kids down. Because they were all born in December, they are the first group of boys who get to travel to a small cove and stay with an older couple, Bandy (Jack Thompson) and Skipper (Kris McQuade), two of the orphanage's benefactors who have offered to house the kids during the Christmas season. Once off on this rare vacation, the boys play in the sand and water, eat well, ride on a motorcycle, go to a carnival, and experience other new and exciting things as they quickly learn that there is more to the world than they ever imagined--and they get to meet some very strange characters in the process. But when Misty overhears that Teresa (Victoria Hill) and her husband, Fearless (Sullivan Stapleton), are considering adopting one of them, the battle is on--except for Maps, who is older than the others and instead spends his time with Lucy (Teresa Palmer), experiencing his first romance. Filmed in Adelaide and on Kangaroo Island and directed by longtime television veteran Rod Hardy, DECEMBER BOYS features beautiful locations, a talented cast, and a terrific soundtrack, including period songs by Norman Greenbaum ("Spirit in the Sky"), the Easybeats ("Friday on My Mind"), and Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Who'll Stop the Rain").
| Features | Additional Scenes | | Audio: English, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: Spanish | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 4/15/2008 |
| Running Time: 105 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 1000027397 | | UPC: 00085391189589 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Christian Byers | | Daniel Radcliffe | | Lee Cormie | | Teresa Palmer | | Andrew Walpole - Art Director | | Carlo Giacco - Original Music By | | Dany Cooper - Editor | | David Connell - Cinematographer | | Jonathan Shteinman - Executive Producer | | Leslie Binns - Production Designer | | Marc Rosenberg - Screenplay | | Michael Noonan - Based On Novel By | | Richard Becker - Producer | | Rod Hardy - Director |
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| | Professional Reviews | Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he HARRY POTTER star broods maturely....A warm, sentimental glow prevails at the end..." 10/01/2007 p.58Box Office
"There's much to like in this sensitive, moody depiction of turbulent teenage emotions -- Cormie, Byers and Fraser are uniformly excellent while the equally fine Radcliffe all but erases any memory of his Harry Potter self." 10/01/2007 p.48 Los Angeles Times
"[A] nostalgia-driven coming-of-age drama....A nicely wrought film of modest ambitions..." 09/14/2007 Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
In Australia, the height of summer arrives, of course, in December, which is not how "December Boys" gets its name...Some elements in the film baffle me, one of them being an underwater appearance by the Virgin Mary. I guess we might see such a manifestation in some movies about Catholic orphans, but not one so chockablock with mortal sins. To balance her, there is the earthy wisdom of Father Scully (Frank Gallacher), who escorts the lads on their holiday, and gives them sales talks on being adopted, as if they were opposed to the idea. He knows the good Catholic McAnsh couple and is their friend in need...The movie is based on a novel by Michael Noonan, unread by me, which is described as "young adult fiction" by Amazon. Its young and adult elements fit together awkwardly, however, and it is hard to reconcile the storybook qualities of the first sequences with what the MPAA catalogs as PG-13 rated "sexual content, nudity, underage drinking and smoking," and parents of younger Radcliffe fans will describe as "ohmigod." There seem to be two movies going on here at the same time, and "December Boys" would have been better off going all the way with one of them. - Roger Ebert
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