I've seen Nicole Kidman play in all kinds of movies and although those movies weren't all successes, they all had one thing in common: Kidman's performance was at least good, if not excellent. That's also the main reason why I gave this movie a try. I had never heard of it before, let alone that I knew that this was a sequel (from the movie "The Year My Voice Broke", which I never heard of before either and, when I see the number of voters on this movie until now, with me a lot of people). I didn't really expect to like it all that much, but I must admit that it was a lot better than I first thought.
In the 1960's Danny has been sent to a boarding school, where he becomes the target of bullies and sadistic teachers. But here he also meets Thandiwe. She's an African girl who studies at a nearby girls school and who isn't fully accepted by her fellow students either. Pretty soon they start an affair which everybody tries to destroy, but the harder the others try to get them apart, the closer they grow together...
I've seen several coming of age movies lately, but this is sure one of the better in its kind. It reminded me a bit of "A Bronx Tale", probably because both stories are about a white boy and a black girl who start a relationship and aren't understood by their friends. The fact that I recognize some similarities with other movies, proves of course that this isn't the most original movie ever, but that didn't really bother me.
The acting by all actors, so not alone by the young Nicole Kidman is good and the story is nice. Overall this is a nice movie that offers enough of good things like humor, drama, good acting and a nice story, to keep you interested until the end. I give it a 7/10.
In the 1960's Danny has been sent to a boarding school, where he becomes the target of bullies and sadistic teachers. But here he also meets Thandiwe. She's an African girl who studies at a nearby girls school and who isn't fully accepted by her fellow students either. Pretty soon they start an affair which everybody tries to destroy, but the harder the others try to get them apart, the closer they grow together...
I've seen several coming of age movies lately, but this is sure one of the better in its kind. It reminded me a bit of "A Bronx Tale", probably because both stories are about a white boy and a black girl who start a relationship and aren't understood by their friends. The fact that I recognize some similarities with other movies, proves of course that this isn't the most original movie ever, but that didn't really bother me.
The acting by all actors, so not alone by the young Nicole Kidman is good and the story is nice. Overall this is a nice movie that offers enough of good things like humor, drama, good acting and a nice story, to keep you interested until the end. I give it a 7/10.