After that summer nothing would ever be the same.
Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, December Boys is a story of four orphan teenagers – all born in the same month – growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia. For years, the boys watch younger kids leave with their newly adopted parents and have come to the realisation their time may never come.
The Reverend Mother gives the boys something to look forward to by sending them to visit the seaside for the first time. Their long awaited holiday doesn’t turn out the way they planned until they meet Teresa and Fearless, a young autocratic couple that would make the perfect parents.
As men, they remember back to the ‘60s when, as boys, they spent their first tumultuous summer by the sea as they sabotaged each other’s efforts to be the chosen one only to discover the real meaning behind what is to be called a family – i.e. one of the “December Boys.”
Filmed on location in South Australia, December Boys is a coming-of-age drama that marks Daniel Radcliffe's first major role outside the ‘Harry Potter’ character.
Critic Reviews:
- " Sentimental, gentile and hopefully nostalgic, from acting to lensing to design to location to direction, December Boys will warm your heart on a cold winter or hot summer night. Now this is magic. " – Debbie Lynn Elias (Behind The Lens)
- " December Boys bathes in the summer sun and sea breezes even as it exudes the energy of youth and promise. " – Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter)
- " [A] tasteful and gorgeously photographed coming-of-age story. " – Lou Lumenick (New York Post)